The region around the woods of Herborn and Echternach – Haard  is geologically dominated by marls and limes of Strassen as well as sandstones of Luxemburg from the Jura and Keuper and Muschelkalk from the Trias. The dry grassland of the area are concentrated on the border regions of sandstones of Luxemburg and Keuper. The climat is characterized by an average annually temperature of 8 – 9 °C and average annually precipitations of de 700 – 800 mm.

Because of the numerous steep rock slopes and gorges with different expositions, important climatic variations are created. The more, numerous springs are situated in the nearby area which is dominated by forest community. The open landscapes are located in the marginal area and are composed of lowland mowed meadows, dry grassland and formations of juniperus on calcareous ground. The region offers a biotope to various bats, orchids, butterflies and orthopteras as well as to the juniper and the red-backed shrike.

As the calcareous grasland and the juniper formations are considerated as typical habitat-types of this region, the protection as well as the enlargement of the areas is of great importance. This should be achieved by scrub clearing, removal of inappropriate forest-tree species and extensivication of adjacent surfaces.