The Black Forest

(Schwarzwald)

The Black Forest, as I have said, is in the mountainous or highland area in Germany. The Black Forest is an entirly wooded region of approximatly 100 miles long and varying in width from 14 miles right up to 38 miles wide. Altogether the forest amounts to an area of approximatly 2,000 squares miles.

The forest consists mainly of fir trees on the upper slopes, with a mix of mostly oak and beech trees on the lower slopes.

The name, 'The Black Forest', was chosen because of the density of the forest being so great that very little light got through the tree tops.

Of course, an obvious thing is that there is, and has been for a long time, a major logging industry which would be a reasonably large factor of the countries economy. The forest is famous, especially for its toys and, strangely, its cuckoo clocks, made from the wood.

Unfortunately there isn't all good news about the forest. A survey carried out in 1984 showed that nearly half of all the trees in the Black Forest had been destroyed or were being killed by acid rain.

Also in the Black Forest, many rivers rise, such as the Danube, an area of volcanoes lie in the Black Forest's North and numerous lakes lie in its East.

The Black Forest is a large tourist attraction for activities such as hiking, cycling, riding and skiing. It is also very good fertile land for farming and suitable for raising cattle too.

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