Landschafts-Informationszentrum

The Landschafts-Informationszentrum Wasser und Wald Möhnesee sits beside the Möhnesee reservoir in the Arnsberger Wald. Its home is the old Günner Mühle, a stone mill built in 1913 from the same local stone as the dam. The building survived the 1943 flood and air raid that destroyed the dam because of its thick walls. After decades as a private mill it was bought by the Möhnesee council in 1989, restored and placed under conservation. Since 1993 the mill has housed the centre’s exhibitions and activities.

The centre explains the natural and cultural history of the reservoir and surrounding forests through three themed rooms. The landscape room uses a large model and touchscreen to show the Arnsberger Wald and the dam’s history. The water room has a talking heron, microscope tables and an aquarium that reveal the lake’s ecology. The forest floor room contains a terrarium of native harvest mice, animal sound stations and hands-on discovery boxes for children.

Outside, small ponds, a wildflower garden and a sensory trail lead past nest boxes for bees, birds and bats. Guided walks and school programmes run throughout the year. The centre also co-ordinates the Möhne LIFE project, which restores river meadows for wildlife and people. Run by a local association under Bernhard Schladör and led by biologist Kerstin Heim-Zülsdorf, the site links conservation work with public learning.