Lower Oder Valley National Park

The park protects about a hundred square kilometres of Oder floodplain, the only national park in Germany covering a river floodplain. Polders built for agriculture are now managed for nature: sluices are opened in winter so the ground floods, and closed in spring so it dries for meadow, which reproduces the seasonal cycle the wildlife depends on. Tens of thousands of cranes and geese use the meadows on migration, and white-tailed eagles, black storks, beavers and aquatic warblers breed in the park. It forms a transboundary protected area with Polish reserves on the other bank of the river.

Background

The national park forms the German core of the Lower Oder Valley International Park, shared with Poland and agreed in 1992. On the German side it covers the flat western banks of the Oder in the Uckermark district, while the Polish side takes in the steep eastern banks in Gryfino and Police counties, protected as the Lower Odra Valley Landscape Park. The core area totals 165 km2, 105 km2 in Germany and 60 km2 in Poland, and with neighbouring reserves the whole reaches 1,172 km2. The German park dates from 1997. Levees on the western shore are opened in winter and spring, and the water spreads over the floodplain until April, when the dikes close again.

Source: Wikipedia, "Lower Oder Valley National Park"

What you'll find

• The managed flooding - polders deliberately flooded each winter and drained in spring.
• The migration gatherings - tens of thousands of cranes and geese.
• The eagles and storks - white-tailed eagles and black storks breeding.
• The transboundary area - reserves continuing across the river.

When to go

April to June for breeding birds and October to November for migration. Winter flooding closes many paths. Core zones are restricted year-round.

What to expect

Flooded polders close paths for months. Core zones cannot be entered. The area is flat with limited facilities and no public transport inside.

Nearby

Schwedt lies west; the Polish border runs down the river.

Key facts