Nigehörn

The island is Nigehörn together with Scharhörn on the Scharhörnplate, a sandbar about 15 kilometers north- west of the mainland near Cuxhaven. The German island is 4 km from the island Neuwerk away in the "Zone I" of the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park. It belongs to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg ( Neuwerk district ) and is uninhabited.

Nigehörn is a man-made island. It was heaped in 1989 with a total of 1.2 million cubic meters of sand and the land area had initial size of around 30 hectares. The Aerial photographs still easily recognizable patterns are remnants of sand drift fences of fascines. These were, after hydraulic filling of the island and formed the basis for the later pioneer dunes caused by sand erosion. A double circle with far- expiring "rays" enclosed the core of the hydraulic filling. Inside traversed three double arches the core from north to south.

After initial planting and a further pre-purge on the northwest side to protect against storm surges, the island has continued to grow in a natural way into the Wadden into it, since pioneer plants hold the zoom flying sand. A result, the island grows in eastern direction and included in 2004 an area of ​​about 50 hectares. By further deposition of sediments on the eastern side of the Wadden area has increased to the Scharhörnplate between Nigehörn and Scharhörn over the last 25 years, so that an integration of the two islands is not unlikely.

With up to 5 m above sea level. NN is Nigehörn basically flood- safe, but the unpaved island threatened with storm surge especially in the West constantly and loss of land.

The sand trap fences are now largely weathered and already removed in the West, despite the one-time pre-rinsing by winter storm surges partially.

Planning

The original plans for a spare island for Scharhörn stir forth from the planning for the Hamburg deepwater port. Hamburg saw the band horns and Neuwerker Wadden area as access to deep outer Elbe and the hinterland connections on a railway track as a realistic option to further secure economic policy interests. These acquired Hamburg as part of Cuxhaven Treaty, this area of Lower Saxony, after it had this replaced in 1937 by the Greater Hamburg Act profitably with Prussia. Since the port and industrial facilities were planned on the Scharhörnplate, there were considerations that habitat losses on Scharhörn by an artificially flushed New Scharhörn east of the deepwater port to compensate.

Since neither of the deep-water port nor the harbor sludge landfill had been realized, located Hamburg decided west shortly before the expulsion of the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park for the construction of new Scharhörns Scharhörn. The converted under the then Environment Senator Jörg Kuhbier Aufspülungsprojekt met with environmental groups to mixed reception. Even the vice-chief of the Hamburg Office of power and port construction (today Hamburg Port Authority ) Harald Göhren referred to the project at that time as "safe a little prophylactic. "

The project was to 1979, planned in various stages of development, with steel and nuclear power plant, but not implemented because of numerous protests, high costs and low support from the industry.

Conservation

The total charge of the club Jordsand Birds sandbar " Scharhörnplate " on which the island is situated, has a length of three kilometers and a width of 1.5 km, a size of almost 500 hectares. Nigehörn may not be entered as part of zone I, in contrast to the neighboring island Scharhörn. Likewise, leaving the way Watt marked with Pricken in Zone 1 of the national parks is not allowed.