Palatine Watershed
In the southern Palatine Forest, the German part of the Wasgau, the Palatine Watershed begins on the French border in the area of the Erlenkopf hill (473 m above NHN), where it is a continuation of the watershed in the northern Vosges. Always generally running from southwest to northeast it initially heads eastwards past Eppenbrunn and Pirmasens over the Großer Schiffelskopf () and reaches the region of Gräfenstein Land. From there it runs up the Hortenkopf () in the central Frankenweide. Several kilometres it passes through the hamlet of Johanniskreuz (), one of the highest settlements in the Palatine Forest. The watershed then reaches the area west of Waldleiningen in the Lower Frankenweide.
Palatinate Forest
The large mixed forests of the mountain range with their various plant communities form an ecological framework in which a large and varied range of animals was able to develop. Particularly striking are the larger mammals which, as in other mountainous regions, are represented by cloven-hoofed animals like the roe deer, red deer and wild boar. Fox, badger, polecat, weasel and threatened mammal species such as bats, pine marten, wildcat and lynx are also found in the Palatinate Forest.