In a lively city like Aachen, the Aachen Forest invites many people to enjoy a wide variety of activities. Despite the common interest in finding balance and recreation in nature, conflicts occasionally arise. This tends to happen when people do not understand the behavior of other user groups or are not familiar with the applicable rules and laws.
This has motivated the representatives of the clubs that use Aachen's forest for sporting and active purposes and the Municipal Forestry Office in the Environment Department of the City of Aachen to close these information gaps.
Respectful cooperation
We are guests in the Aachen Forest. Our aim is to respect the forest, its inhabitants and its visitors and to leave it as we found it - peaceful and almost without a trace.
- As walkers, we want to find peace and relaxation. As athletes, we love training in the fresh air and enjoy the impressions of the forest.
- As nature lovers, we want to preserve its idyll, its naturalness and its beauty.
- As foresters, we harvest the raw material wood, from which valuable commodities or heat are produced.
- As dog owners, we and our four-legged friends enjoy exercise in the countryside.
- As children, there is so much to discover and experience.
- As hunters, we contribute to the conservation, care and regulation of our game population.
The Aachen Forest offers us everything, but nothing exclusive to any of us! We respect each other's motivations and demands when visiting the forest and show consideration for the other user groups, i.e. we understand each other's actions.
Maintaining a friendly and polite manner
Wild animals
Even if they are rarely or never seen, they are still at home in the Aachen forest - our wild animals. They all have particularly well-developed sensory organs. Wild animals have learned that humans and dogs rarely pose a threat on the trail. However, if we deviate from these behavioral patterns, wild animals become stressed and leave their retreat in a hurry. It is not uncommon for the escape on a road to end in unpleasant situations for everyone involved.
We are happy to help: the "abandoned" fawn, the young bird that has fallen out of the nest. Unfortunately, this is often misunderstood love of animals. Please do not touch wild animals, always keep your distance so that young animals do not pick up the human scent. The animal parents always find their young again and look after them.
Many wild animals are nocturnal, which means that while humans normally leave the forest and prepare for the quieter phase of the day, wild animals are on the move. In the late twilight, it slowly emerges from its hiding places, checks whether the "coast is clear" and goes in search of food and, depending on the time of year, also in search of a mate.
Wild animals only have a few undisturbed retreats left in forests close to cities, especially in terms of space-time behavior. Let's at least leave them their home at night!
We stay on the paths
The Öcher Bösch offers all forest users a dense and well-developed network of paths and bridleways, and for good reason. It plays an important role in guiding visitors and helps to avoid conflicts between different user groups, but also between each individual user and nature, including wildlife.
The forest fulfills a variety of functions (e.g. erosion, climate, water and species protection, recreation, home to our wildlife, supplier of renewable raw materials). Any driving or walking off the paths provided for the relevant user group leads to trampling damage (soil compaction, soil erosion, displacement of the tree and herb layer) and to disturbance of our wildlife. The risk of accidents also increases, for example when cyclists or people suddenly cross a bridle path coming from the forest (escape behavior of horses) or if the speed on the paths is not adapted.
Hence the urgent request: We use our ways!
- Riders: Riding paths and riding banquet
- Forestry machinery: Paths and defined logging roads
- Mountain bikers: Roads and fixed trails as well as the mountain bike park
- Cyclists, joggers, hikers and walkers: Forest paths and signposted hiking trails
We leave no garbage behind, we respect nature
Not many cities are surrounded by such an extensive area of forest as Aachen, and that in the immediate vicinity of the city. Our forest is an irreplaceable asset that should be preserved by all forest users. It therefore goes without saying that we should take the garbage back with us. Be a role model, also for our children!