City Forest

Jena is a high-tech city surrounded by nature. People use the natural surroundings primarily for sports and recreation—the city forest thus plays a major role as a place of relaxation. In addition to serving as a habitat for fungi, plants, and animals, our forest makes a major contribution to water and soil conservation. As the city’s “air conditioning system,” it also provides fresh, clean air and, especially in the summer, helps keep the city cool.

Large portions of the city forest are designated under various protection categories. In addition to “traditional” nature reserves, these include landscape conservation areas, bird sanctuaries, and Flora-Fauna-Habitat areas. You can find more information here.

What Grows Here

Jena has a dry, warm climate by Central European standards. The current (2023) annual average temperature is 10.2 °C, and the average annual precipitation is 666.8 mm. These climatic conditions naturally influence the local vegetation. This is particularly noticeable on the south-facing Muschelkalk slopes.

As a result, the Jena City Forest is primarily home to dry deciduous forests with sessile oaks, hornbeams, linden trees, and service trees, as well as coniferous forests with Scots pines and black pines.

Spruce trees are now rarely found in the forest, and the proportion of pine trees is steadily decreasing, so that about one-third of the trees in the forest are now conifers.

In addition to our two foresters, 12 employees are actively involved in forest management. Our responsibilities also include marking and maintaining hiking trails, ensuring public safety, conducting educational outreach, and providing wood as a sustainable raw material.

We are supported in our work by four volunteers who are completing either the Federal Volunteer Service or a Voluntary Ecological Year.

From time to time, the team is also supplemented by interns, students writing their thesis with us, or high school students whose seminar projects we supervise.

The city forest is part of the “Middle Saale Valley” natural region, making the city of Jena one of the key players in the local landscape. As part of the EU’s tourism promotion efforts, the natural environment in Jena’s Saale Valley is to be developed into a more attractive, sustainable, and future-proof adventure region. The framework for this adventure region is provided by the SaaleHorizontale quality hiking trail, with the new Nature Experience Center on Schottplatz at its heart.

Through the “Nature Experience Region” project, existing themed trails in and around Jena will be expanded, and additional adventure trails will be created. The existing trails, “Schlauer Ux” and “Saurierpfad Trixi Trias,” currently appeal primarily to children and families seeking to learn more about nature and the Earth’s history. The “Climate Trail” and “Local History Trail” are geared more toward older “nature explorers,” but are especially suited for hikers who seek mindful experiences, are eager to learn, and have a deep connection to nature.

Two entirely new trails in the Saale Valley and on the Saale High Plateau will appeal equally to hikers, nature lovers, history buffs, and “naturalists.” The design and narrative content will follow a “green thread” that will incorporate both analog and digital elements. Intensive conceptual work is currently underway for this project.

Augmented reality will connect the real world with the virtual one. The past and the future will truly come to life in the real world.

Jena as a “high-tech hub” in the heart of nature reserves! – Our project will once again shape this image and further develop it to the highest standards.

The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).