Reiffelbach

Reiffelbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Meisenheim, whose seat is in the like-named town.GeographyLocationReiffelbach, a clump village, lies on the like-named brook, the Reiffelbach, east of the Glan in the North Palatine Uplands. The municipal area measures 446 ha and the village sits at an elevation of 326 m above sea level.Land useWoodlands today occupy more than 100 ha of the municipal area. Until the first afforestation efforts in the 1950s, there were only broadleaf forests in Reiffelbach, with the predominant species being beeches and oaks. Subsequent private afforestation projects were undertaken, on the forestry office’s advice, with spruce and Douglas-fir trees. In 1932, the forest in the “Muhl” (rural cadastral area) was cleared and meadows were laid out there. In 1963, the “Kleeberg” (“Clover Mountain”) was bought by the forestry office, as was the “Frauenhölle” (“Women’s Hell”) in 1965, and both were afforested with coniferous forest (larch trees, among others). Until the early 20th century, the foremost uses of the local woodlands were for building material, mine timbers and firewood, and oak bark was harvested and shipped to Meisenheim for tanning. Today, the only commercial use is as firewood.