Nature Reserves in Germany - Signage

Signage

Because legal restrictions are placed on activity within German nature reserves they have to be signed on the ground. Only by this means can e.g. walkers know that they are entering a nature reserve and may not e.g. leave the tracks and paths. For historical reasons there is no standard sign used across Germany.

Nature reserves in the "old states" of the Federal Republic of Germany are marked by green signs with the silhouette of a sea eagle. In the new federal states of the former East Germany they are marked with a pentagonal yellow sign bearing an image of a Long-eared Owl. The reunification of Germany the 36th Environmental Minister's Conference in 1991 recommended the use of the owl symbol in future in the whole of Germany to designate nature reserves. This recommendation was not unversally adopted by the states, in whom the jurisdiction for conservation policy was vested. For that reason there are de facto three different signs being used alongside one another in Germany today.

• Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony use the owl on a pentagon, Saxony-Anhalt employing a white background instead of the usual yellow.
• Berlin, Lower Saxony and Bremen use the owl in a green triangle.
• Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinat, the Saarland, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria use the sea eagle in a green triangle.

• Owl on pentagonal sign

• New sign with long-eared owl

• Old sign with sea eagle