Wolschwiller State Biological Reserve

In the heart of the Alsatian Jura, the Wolschwiller State Biological Reserve is a real open-air laboratory. Remote limestone cliffs, rare species, breathtaking view of a magnificent landscape.

Its geographical location allows for cross-border management with Switzerland, giving it a much greater ecological importance than the 67 ha located on the municipal district of Wolschwiller.

It concentrates quite original environments for Alsace, in particular cliffs and exceptional limestone rocky outcrops. The fauna, and in particular the avifauna, is represented by rare species including the eagle owl, the peregrine falcon and the common raven.

No less than 350 plant species have been identified to date. Several are protected at the regional level: Mountain Alysson (Alyssum montanum), Cretan Athamante (Athamanta cretensis), Sheathing Coronilla. Other species without protection status are notable, in particular a moss, Grimmia teretinervis which had never been recorded in the region.

Careful silviculture is carried out around these cliffs to avoid cover closures. The conservation of many dead and hollow woods, essential in terms of biodiversity and good environmental balance, has already been practiced for many years.

The reserve also shelters remarkable trees of which a Scots pine at least 200 years old stands on a steep cliff which dominates the village of Wolschwiller. Clinging directly to the rock, this twisted pine with the appearance of Bonzaï has, in living memory, not changed a branch.

Under this cliff is a cave which, it is said, housed the village priest Joseph Enderlin, a refractory priest who continued to minister clandestinely in the region after the French Revolution. Attention, unsecured site, do not approach the edge!