Protected areas
This is a translation of Schutzgebiete. Please insert only links to (existing or to-be-written) English language Wiki pages here. In diesem Artikel bitte nur Links auf englischsprachige Seiten verwenden.
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Note: The term "Opencaching websites" refers to www.opencaching.it, www.opencachingspain.es and www.opencaching.de.
Cachers share responsibility to protect the environment. Some nature areas are protected areas by law.
Information of German protected areas on Opencaching websites
In January 2009 the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation provided geodata of many German protected areas to the Opencaching team. Based on these data, the Opencaching websites display an information if a geocache is located within a protected area. Cachers therefore know, that they have to respect special regulations in the vicinity of the geocache.
It is important to Opencaching and the geocaching movement to obey nature protection regulations to prevent getting a bad reputation. Furthermore, it helps to have a trusting and collaborative relationship with those officials responsible for the protected areas.
Included data
The following protected areas are known to the Opencaching websites. The date indicates the year of last modification.
- Nature reserves (de: Naturschutzgebiete (NSG)) – 2006
- National parks (de: Nationalparke) – 2008
- Biosphere reserves (de: Biosphärenreservate) – 2008
- Protected sites according to the European Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive (de: Fauna-Flora-Habitat-Gebiete (FFH)) – 2006
- Landscape conservation areas (de: Landschaftsschutzgebiete (LSG)) – 2006
- Natural parks (de: Naturparke) – 2008
- Bird sanctuaries (de: Vogelschutzgebiete) – 2007
Source: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), according to data of the Federal States.
The Opencaching Deutschland e.V. and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation do not take any liability for the accuracy and completeness of the data.
Identification of affected protected areas
The Opencaching websites identify protected areas by using the geocache's coordinates as entered by the geocache's owner. If the coordinates of a geocache listing are not the real location of the geocache, then the displayed information on a protected area may be wrong or missing. The same counts on any stage or final of a multi geocache. They could even be located in different protected areas.
You can manually check if a geocache is located within a protected area by consulting the online map of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation at
Behaviour within protected areas
Before hiding or seeking geocaches, please, check, if the geocache is located within a protected area. For example, in many areas it is forbidden to leave the tracks. So, a geocache needs to be accessible just next to the track. Additionally, geocaches may not be placed in tree hollows, caves or nests. The regulations can differ depending on the type of area and Federal State. A proven way to find the text of a law or regulation is the World Wide Web. Most authorities and ministries provide document download.