Because Örtze has largely been spared from development, a near-natural habitat has been preserved. Its water quality is classed throughout as Class II: moderately polluted. Alders, pines and spruce along the river bank provide shade, keeping the water cool even in summer and the oxygen content high. The Örtze is relatively low in nutrients. Its course is meandering and structurally varied in places and offers many places for fish to hide and spawn with its steep banks, hollows, gravel and sand banks. The fish and animal species found in the river include: freshwater eels and burbots, grayling, brown trout, bream, minnow, perch, Gudgeon, pike, bullhead, roach, rudd and brook lamprey. Even the endangered otter and kingfisher live here. Salmon fishing in the Örtze had been recorded since 1766, but the last salmon was caught in 1935. Since 1982 attempts have been made to re-introduce salmon by stocking the river. The weir at Wolthausen is, however, an obstacle to fish swimming upstream. From the 16th century until 1960 the Örtze drove the water wheel of a corn mill here. Today by contrast it powers a turbine next to the water wheel to generate electricity. A fish pass is being planned.
Boating on the Örtze
Boating is permitted on the Örtze during the summer months, from 16 May to 14 October, between 9 am and 6 pm, provided it does not harm the natural environment. The only types of craft allowed are rowing boats. The Örtze may be used downstream of the mill in Müden. There are launching places in Müden, Baven, Hermannsburg, Oldendorf, Eversen, Wolthausen and Winsen.
In literature
The regional writer Hermann Löns devoted a chapter to the Örtze with several pages. He wrote inter alia:
Meadow irrigation
Until the 1950s the meadows in the floodplain of the Örtze were irrigated, and fertilised by the minerals and organic substances in the river water, using a principle known as Lüneburger Rückenbau or Suderburger Rückenbau. To irrigate the Baven meadows a canal was laid between 1831 and 1850 and opened in 1854. It began near Müden with a weir at the start of the diversion. Other weirs distributed the water from the canal into the meadows. Today the canal acts as a floodway.
Timber rafting
History
on the Örtze probably began in the 17th century. On 28 February 1677 the prince's master rafter, Johann Bastian Erhardt, looked into the possibility of using the river to float timber downstream from forest in the areas of Hassel, Lüß and Kalbsloh. He gave the following report to the senior forester of Wahrenholz: This expert opinion led to timber rafting being established on the Örtze. In the 19th century, timber rafting on the Örtze assumed great importance for the region. The number of rafts increased from around 600 per year in 1868 to 1,946 in 1874, which reflected the economic boom of the so-called Gründerzeit years. Demand was generated by the construction of buildings and ships at Bremen, Bremerhaven and in the district of Wesermarsch. Its supply, by contrast, was from private landowners and local communities to whom large areas of old forest had been transferred following the division of common land in the mid-19th century. From 1877 the number of rafts on the Örtze fell rapidly, especially when its lower reaches silted up and became too shallow. From 1912 timber rafting came to a standstill. Competition came from the Celle-Soltau, Celle-Munster Light Railway built in 1910 and the metalled roads and new sawmills in the immediate vicinity. Number of rafts from 1869 to 1910
Year
No. of rafts
Year
No. of rafts
Year
No. of rafts
Year
No. of rafts
1869
1592
1870
1262
1880
546
1890
182
1900
160
1871
1446
1881
522
1891
220
1901
135
1872
1733
1882
371
1892
n.E.
1902
134
1873
1788
1883
350
1893
148
1903
123
1874
1946
1884
286
1894
139
1904
51
1875
1476
1885
211
1895
145
1905
70
1876
1130
1886
257
1896
206
1906
61
1877
695
1887
207
1897
216
1907
17
1878
583
1888
255
1898
186
1908
31
1879
611
1889
232
1899
201
1909
22
1910
14
Technology
The Örtze was navigable by timber rafts all year round from its confluence with the Wietze near Müden to the Aller thanks to its water-retentive, sandy river bed. A timber raft could travel these in a day. In the second half of the 19th century there were also 11 raft-building points from Müden to Oldendorf where the logs hauled to the river by horse and cart were tied together to form a raft. On the Aller the logs were bound together to form even larger rafts and floated down to their offloading point in Bremen. From there the wood was shipped to England, the Netherlands, France or Spain. The rafts were long and wide. One feature were the rounded willow hoops at the front, the so-called hand rails, which the rafter could grab in an emergency. The rafter carried a pole for manoeuvering the raft which he pressed against the left shoulder with a T handle. It was fitted with an iron spike and hook at the end.
