Stepenitz (Brandenburg)

Stepenitz on Marienfließ Monastery

The Stepenitz is an approximately 84 km long right tributary of the Elbe in Brandenburg. The largest tributaries of the Stepenitz whose catchment area covers about 1299 km ², the Dömnitz, the Schlatbach, the Jeetzbach and Karthane. Approximately 30.8 km ² of the catchment area rich in the southwest Mecklenburg -Vorpommern.

The Stepenitz is considered one of the cleanest rivers in Germany and is in the upper reaches largely undeveloped. In the project " Elblachs 2000 ' form the Stepenitz and its tributaries, the central water system. The river valley was designated in 2004 as a nature reserve Stepenitz.

• 3.1 Program " Elblachs 2000 '
• 3.2 Nature Reserve Stepenitz

History and Places

Headwaters

The Stepenitz rises in the northern tip of Brandenburg in the district Prignitz about five kilometers southeast of Meyenburg.

The spring rises on a ridge about 110 m above sea level. NN between the villages belonging to Meyenburg Penzlin, Penzlin -South and Schmolde as well as the members of the community Halen -Rohlsdorf warning village and Bruges. Only one a few kilometers away from the source of Stepenitz start the Elde and the Dosse. The Elde flows at the beginning of the northwest lake Müritz Dosse southeast to the Havel and the Stepenitz in the main direction to the southwest.

Course

Below the source of the Stepenitz loses altitude quickly and flows in a northwesterly direction through Meyenburg. In the village it forms the eastern boundary of the castle park on Meyenburg castle. A little further west the river reaches the community Marienfließ with the districts Krempendorf and Stepenitz. Here it runs close to the Cistercian monastery Marienfließ. This is the oldest nunnery Prignitz was founded in 1230 and has the back stone monastery church preserved from the 13th century.

Below the monastery of the river through meadows and beech forests with bank crashes, smaller alder swamps and auwald similar sections. East of the mountains Ruhner turn the course to the south. After the village Telschow the Stepenitz flows with Putlitzstrasse one of the oldest cities in the Prignitz to which the remainder of the places Mansfeld and Lockstädt belong. Between the towns of Bright and Wolf Hagen the municipality Groß Pankow ( Prignitz ) opens from left to Dömnitz. In Wolf Hagen Stepenitzlauf happened the Renaissance castle of Wolf Hagen 1590th With the waters of the Stepenitz this originally from the " noble lords goose Putlitzstrasse " was created as a moated castle. The landscape architect Peter Joseph Lenne created in the 1850s on both sides of Stepenitz a landscape park.

Other major towns Pankower the river are Seddin, Cross Castle, Rohlsdorf and Klein Linde before above the Perleberger hamlet Lübzow flows from the right Schlatbach. About five kilometers downstream includes the Stepenitz with two arms the center of Westprignitz, pearl mountain. The historic, restored core of Roland pearl mountain town located on an island of Stepenitz - run. Below pearl mountain crosses the river with its characterized by lowland meadows rich in pine forest in the town Perleberger Perleberger Heath. From left here opens the Jeetzbach. Thus, the discharge rate is remarkably by the Elbe biosphere reserve.

The Stepenitz forms the border between the municipalities of ways and Breese before it touches the east of the city Wittenberg traditional Elbe crossing of the Westprignitz to Altmark. The river flows along with the Karthane into the Elbe.

Geese Tour ( cycling )

The signposted " geese Tour" in the river valley leads through the adjacent historic sites to around 70 kilometers from the upper reaches of the Stepenitz at Meyenburg to the mouth. The name of the tour and its flagship goose logo refer to one of the oldest and most important noble families of the Prignitz, the " Noble Lord" goose Putlitzstrasse. Almost all cultural and historical sites along the tour are connected to this family. The knight Johann goose Putlitzstrasse founded in 1230 the nunnery Marienfließ to secure the border against Mecklenburg. Monastic floor remained mostly untouched by armed conflicts in the Middle Ages.

Restoration and Conservation

Program " Elblachs 2000 '

Salmon were until the end of the 19th century one of the main sources of income of the Elbe Prignitz Fischer. Since the mid-20th century, salmon and sea trout in the Stepenitz were considered extinct. Dams and other hydraulic structures prevented the migration of fish, environmental pollution reduced the food supply. Since 2000, the state of Brandenburg tried using the program " Elblachs 2000" salmon as " Leitfisch " for fish ecology and fisheries on the Elbe to resettle. The program is self-replicating and fishing commercially viable salmon and sea trout stocks are to be produced in the Elbe and its tributaries again.

In the model, the Stepenitz forms the central body of water. On 1 April 1999 50,000 10,000 young salmon and sea trout were used in the tributary Dömnitz near the beautiful Hagen mill. Since 2002, 54 salmon and 35 sea trout have returned to spawn in the Stepenitzsystem. This came to international attention. Following the success of the Land of Brandenburg in 2004 began a resettlement program for salmon in the Pulsnitz and in the Schwarze Elster. A similar project under the name Salmon 2000 is also on the Rhine.

Dams have been dismantled and fish ramps applied to restoration. In Schlatbach, a water-rich Stepenitzzufluss, a weir at Gramzow was replaced by a Sohlgleite that overcomes a height difference of nearly two meters. With stone bars pelvic structure is produced which allows the fish in the summer low-water migration. In the upper and lower waters of the Glide also artificial spawning grounds have been created. 105,000 Meerforellenbrütlinge put the country until 2005, a total of at Schlatbach.

Returning salmon are observed between mid-November and mid-December. The Ziegelhofstraße bridge over the Stepenitz at the south exit of the pearl 's Old Town is particularly suitable for observation.

Nature reserve Stepenitz

The nature reserve Stepenitz comprises a total area of ​​approximately 2,500 hectares several communities along the river course of Meyenburg about Putlitzstrasse and Triglitz until after Pearl Mountain. Protective purpose is the richly structured system of watercourses Prignitzer plates and altitude country with largely natural or near-natural hydrological conditions, various source horizons and point sources in the field of Talrandhänge and talrandnahen floodplains.

• Preservation and development of the habitat of wild plant communities, especially of peat forests, springs and spring swamps, floating leaf and water plant communities, reeds, sedges, grassland fresh to wet sites with small areas occurring flood grass and dry grass.

• Conservation and development of the area less frequently than lifetime or retreat and a potential re propagation center of wildlife species, especially bound to the trout and grayling region lamprey and fish species as well as various species of dragonflies, as spawning grounds for amphibians and as a resting, hibernation, breeding and foraging area, endangered bird species, including especially and strictly protected species such as the black stork (Ciconia nigra), Common Crane (Grus grus), Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea), Kingfisher ( Alcedo atthis), Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus ) and amphibians like toad ( Bufo viridis ), spadefoot ( Pelobates fusces ), Pool Frog (Rana lessonae ) tree frog ( Hyla arborea ) and crustaceans such as crayfish (Astacus astacus ).

• Conservation and development of the river system for scientific reasons for the observation and study of the animal and plant communities of a natural water system as well as the processes involved in natural recovery.

• Attaches particular importance Nature Reserve Regulation on the conservation and development of populations of otters (Lutra lutra ), West bullhead ( Cottus gobio ), loach ( Cobitis taenia ), salmon (Salmo salar), brook lamprey ( Lampetra planeri ), river lamprey ( Lampetra fluviatalis ), Small freshwater mussel ( Unio crassus ), Narrow -mouthed whorl snail ( Vertigo angustior ), Pot-bellied whorl snail ( Vertigo moulinsiana ) and great crested newt (Triturus cristatus ) and animal species listed in Annex II of the Fauna-Flora -Habitat Directive, including its for reproduction, feeding, migration and wintering important habitats.

In the region there are already the nature reserves Marienfließ and Quaßliner Moor.

Environment

From source to mouth, there are the following named tributaries.

• Schmolder ditch
• Ditch Waldhof
• Sude
• Krumbach
• Kreuzbach
• Wide Gendorf ditch
• Rotbach
• Zieskenbach
• Sagast
• Cold stream
• Freudenbach
• Dömnitz
• Seddiner ditch
• Panke
• Retziner Mühlbach
• Schlatbach
• Pearl
• Jeetzbach
• Heart shear channel
• Karthane

Along the Stepenitz are the places Meyenburg, Stepenitz Putlitzstrasse, Wolf Hagen, Pearl Mountain, Wittenberg.