Reorientation after Reunification

Between 1960 and 1989, the Wuhlheide changed its face considerably. The forest alone shrank from the original 525 ha to 380 ha, as areas were needed for the railway embankment, the Pioneer Park, residential buildings, the Reichsbahn line “Karlshorst-Schönefeld-Potsdam”, sports fields, the western connecting road, tent camps, road extension, construction camps and storage. Nevertheless, after German Reunification, tempers heated up on the question of whether the Wuhlheide was a forest or a park. The reason for this was a request by the Alliance 90/Greens Party to include the entire Wuhlheide in the State Forest Register (Landeswaldverzeichnis). This would have transferred the Wuhlheide completely to the administration of the Berlin Forests (Berliner Forsten). The Berlin Senate finally decided that the Wuhlheide is not a uniformly structured area, but a complex habitat that has a forest character in large parts. This therefore gave rise to various responsibilities with regard to the administration. The Treptow-Köpenick district’s Streets and Green Spaces Department (SGA) is responsible for the public green spaces, Forsten for the forest. The Treptow-Köpenick Environmental and Nature Conservation Office is responsible for nature conservation in the Wuhlheide, while the Lower Monument Protection Authority takes care of the garden monuments in the park.

WORKING ON AN OVERALL CONCEPT “WUHLHEIDE”

In order to coordinate the different requirements and possible uses, the District Office of Köpenick had a “Landscape Planning Concept Wuhlheide” developed in 1991. It stipulated that the Wuhlheide should be preserved as a contiguous landscape area and that its importance for recreation should be further improved. The main attraction in the Wuhlheide was the leisure and recreation centre (FEZ) (Freizeit- undErholungszentrum). Together with the former public park area, it was to form the focus of the intensive open space use in the future.

In 1994, the Senate Administration for Urban Development and Environmental Protection (Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umweltschutz) issued the Land Use Plan Berlin (FNP 94). It was the first land use plan for the entire urban area of Berlin, which determined which parts of the urban area should be used for housing, by industrial estates or for other construction purposes and which parts should be preserved as open spaces. oder für andere bauliche Zwecke genutzt und welche als Freiflächen erhalten werden sollen.

The Wuhlheide was declared an open space (forest and green space). The location of the FEZ was an exception. The location of the FEZ was an exception. It was designated as a public use area with a high proportion of greenery and intended for sports and culture..

BIRTH OF PROWUHLHEIDE E.V.

In 2007 and 2012, development concepts for the Wuhlheide were prepared with the cooperation of the District, the Senate and the local stakeholders. With the mission statement (BA template 133/2012 of 27.11.2012) these formed the framework for planning and activities in the Wuhlheide in the following years. In the course of this focus on the future of the Wuhlheide, ProWuhlheide e.V. was founded in 2010. It is an association of most of the institutions and stakeholders operating in the Wuhlheide.

Up to now, much has happened in the Wuhlheide. The existing facilities in the park were expanded and optimized, new ones were added. Nevertheless, a large number of the recommendations from the site development concept of 2007 – mainly of an infrastructural nature – have not yet been realised for financial reasons. With the

Establishment of the Wuhlheide park management

a step in this direction has now been taken for the first time.
SETTING UP A PARKMANAGEMENT

The Parkmanagement Volks- und Waldpark Wuhlheide is a project of the Economic Development Department of the District Office of Treptow-Köpenick in Berlin together with the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises within the framework of the “Joint Federal Task for the Improvement of Regional Economic Structures (GRW)” which is financed from Federal and State funds. The Association ProWuhlheide e.V. is commissioned to implement the project. Individual points such as the development of a corporate design for the park, a route guidance system or the creation of this website were completed or initiated by the Parkmanagement. Further activities are in progress. The aim is to prolong the institution of Parkmanagement and, at best, to make it more permanent.

UPDATE OF THE SITE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT FOR WUHLHEIDE

The site development concept from 2007 was also updated in 2019. A new mission statement for the park was developed in close cooperation between representatives from politics, administration and the stakeholders in the Wuhlheide. It consists of a plan and a charter for Wuhlheide, in which the future development goals for the park were formulated. This is another important step towards the future of Wuhlheide.

Development of a park management system

In 2020, the Treptow-Köpenick district office, under the leadership of the Lower Monument Authority, commissioned a park maintenance plan, which is currently being developed by an agency. It will make restoration recommendations specific to the historic areas in the eastern portion of the park. We will provide information on the results here in due course.