Naturschutzgebiet

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Because legal restrictions are placed on activity within German nature reserves they have to be signed on the ground. Only by this means can e.g. walkers know that they are entering a nature reserve and may not e.g. leave the tracks and paths. For historical reasons there is no standard sign used across Germany. Nature reserves in the "old states" of the Federal Republic of Germany are marked by green signs with the silhouette of a sea eagle. In the the new federal states of the former East Germany they are marked with a pentagonal yellow sign bearing an image of a Long-eared Owl. The reunification of Germany the 36th Environmental Minister's Conference in 1991 recommended the use of the owl symbol in future in the whole of Germany to designate nature reserves.