Lüneburg Heath Nature Park
Lüneburg Heath Nature Park (German: "Naturpark Lüneburger Heide") is a nature park, a form of protected environment, located in the Lüneburg Heath in northern Germany. It has an area of . The centre of the nature park is the Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve with an area of . Geography. The nature park belongs to the former province ("Regierungsbezirk") of Lüneburg and, after its expansion in 2007, extends into the districts of Harburg, Lüneburg and Heidekreis. The Lüneburg Heath Nature Park is bordered in the north by Buchholz, in the east by Lüneburg, in the south by Soltau and  in the west by Neuenkirchen. It lies roughly south of Hamburg, 70 km east of Bremen and 90 km north of Hanover. It was established as early as 1922, initially with of nature reserve. In 1993 this area was increased to . By the beginning of 2007 the area of the nature reserve almost coincided with the area of the nature park. On 14 February 2007 the park was expanded to . The areas added included various protected areas ("Landschaftsschutzgebiete"). Legal status. The park is one of 98 nature parks in Germany. They were established under section 22, paragraph 4 of the  Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG). They comprise about 25% of the total land area of Germany and are linked by the "Verband Deutscher Naturparke" (Association of German Nature Parks). Note that this is a separate category from the 14 "Nationalparke" (national parks) of Germany, under paragraph 24 of the Federal Nature Conservation Act. "See List of national parks of Germany." Nature reserves. There are some 20 nature reserves ("Naturschutzgebiete" or "NSG"s) in the park. NSGs with an area of more than 100 hectares are: Protected areas. There are more than 50 protected landscapes ("Landschaftsschutzgebiete" or "LSG"s) in the park. LSGs  with an area of more than 500 hectares are: