Guiding principles

The Harz upland landscape is very important for matters of environmental protection since many species live here in unique communities. At the same time their biospheres are relatively semi-natural. Harz National Park, which lies both in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, protects a large-scale typical section of this landscape, including the natural dynamics of the ecosystem and its biodiversity.

In 2006 both Harz National Parks merged and formed the first German national park that actually lies in two federal states. Therefore, it is also an excellent example of cross-border cooperation within Germany.

The commonly administrated Harz National Park depends on the active contribution of its staff. Therefore we have answered the following questions in our guideline section: What is our mission? What are our aims? How do we realise these aims together?

In 2007 we elaborated precise pre-settings for the following areas:

• Legal status
• Theoretical principles
• Aims
• Tasks
• Environmental protection
• Regional development
• Environmental education and recreation
• Research and documentation
• Public relations
• National and international cooperation
• National Park administration