Isenachweiher
Remains of a mill just below the dam
The Isenachweiher in the Palatinate Forest ( Rhineland -Palatinate ) is a reservoir of Isenach, a left tributary of the Rhine. Such reservoirs are called in the region Woog.
Geography
Geographical location
The Isenachweiher located in the northeastern Palatinate Forest, 200 meters north of the main road 37 that leads from the town of Bad Durkheim after Frankenstein. It belongs to the forest district of Bad Durkheim, whose residential area is about ten kilometers away.
Dimensions
The entire Isenachweiher has 17,850 m² with approximately twice the size of a football field. What is perceived by the viewer as the actual lake area, extends above the dam, with a width of about 50 meters over 100 meters to the north. In this area of the pond is a maximum of eight feet deep. The rest of the lake surface appears as a widening of the river to about 20 meters, which already employs several hundred meters before the Isenachweiher.
Environment
On the south shore of the pond lay on the dam once a guard house. It was used as a forester's house, from the 1930s as a picnic area at the beginning of the 20th century. In November 1983, the house burned to the ground. From 1990, a large wooden log cabin was built as a restaurant with beer garden in two stages, the forester's house called for Isenach. There are also rowing boats can be rented to ride on the pond. An unpaved parking lot is located on the dam in front of the house, another on the B 37 at the junction of the access road.
History
In the narrow valley the Isenach was about five kilometers dammed below its source in the years 1736/37 to ensure uniform water flow of the river. This was necessary because the pumping of 1736 also established salt works Bad Durkheim were operated until 1850 with hydropower, which was recovered from the Isenach. In addition, the Woog provided the supply of a mill-wheel below the dam safe. 1810 and 1935/36, major maintenance works were carried out; on the second occasion the pond was sludged and doubled with the excavation, the thickness of the dam from 35 to 70 meters. Mid-1980s and for the last time from autumn 2008 to spring 2009, the dam repaired and restored; the cost of the last renovation was estimated from Bad Durkheim to 400,000 euros. This work was (initially 25 liters per second in 2009 ) that are not a result of the construction technology used especially necessary because of unexplained losses of water - it is a flow-through dam - occur, but are returned in an invisible lateral drains.
Flora and Fauna
The Isenachweiher is transparent down to the ground, because only a few aquatic plants thrive because of the steep and shaded by tall trees and the banks can cause turbidity. Despite the meager water flora there is a considerable variety of fish, crayfish, frogs, newts and aquatic insects such as diving beetles and Great water beetle are observed. In the area nesting site for birds. These include the rare dippers that hunts in the stone cascades of Seeablaufs; in Germany this songbird is performed threatened on the Red List of Threatened Species with the status. Among the flying insects especially the Banded Demoiselle falls on, which has a wingspan of 6.5 to 7cm. In order to maintain the ecological balance of the swimming or fishing in the lake as well as the spreading of fish or bird seed is prohibited.