Wacholderheide

For centuries, the heathland with its juniper stands primarily served to catch the juniper thrushes. The juniper hedges provided the birds with the optimal habitat. In the past, juniper thrushes were considered a delicacy. Bird catchers used nets and snares to hunt the thrushes. Old documents confirm that as late as 1886, a total of 2,240 juniper thrushes were caught in the region. Two years later, in March 1888, a law for the protection of birds put an end to bird catching in the Hunsrück. Originally, the Woppenrother Heath extended to the village. However, due to intensive reforestation and the industrialization of agriculture in the 19th century, the grazing of the heath was displaced - it gradually turned into bushes. In the 20th century, the use of fertilizers led to even lean heath areas, which previously yielded no produce, being transformed into arable land.
With great effort, the Woppenrother Juniper Heath was renatured in 2006 by the Simmern Forestry Office. Ongoing maintenance is also carried out with the help of local shepherds, whose animals graze the heath and whose meat is marketed as a particularly high-quality "SooNahe product." This sparked the idea of presenting the juniper heath as a natural object of the region. To raise awareness of the juniper heath among the population, the Juniper Heath Festival has been celebrated every two years since 2006 on the first Sunday in September around the shelter.

Juniper heath directly at the hiking parking lot on L 162.

For more information:
Tourist Information Kirchberg (Hunsrück), Tel. 06763/910144
www.kirchberg-hunsrueck.de