the large, natural forests of the schönbuch are located in the midst of the densely populated, highly industrialized neckar region. this is a leisure destination for local residents, home to many species of plants and animals and an essential source of fresh air for the region whilst at the same time as producing wood, a natural and sustainable raw material. at the end of the 1960s, there were plans to build a new airport for stuttgart here, but these were thwarted by the resistance of a large part of the population and a number of official bodies. as a result, it was decided to establish a nature park in the extensive forests between böblingen, sindelfingen, herrenberg and tübingen in 1972. schönbuch nature park is an almost completely wooded part of the swabian terraced landscape between the black forest and the swabian jura. the giant steps of the schönbuch are formed by alternating strata of sandstone and clay which have eroded at different speeds. the hard keuper mountains rise up from the agricultural land of the gäu plain to the west, forming the characteristic southern edge of the schönbuch with their hard sandstones.