The beavers

The Bieber rises in the district of Offenbach on the eastern slope of the Sprendlinger Horst in the "Kirchborn" area between Dreieich-Götzenhain and Dietzenbach. On its almost 14-kilometer course through the areas of the towns of Dietzenbach and Heusenstamm, it takes in several small tributaries and the runoff from the sewage treatment plants there and, after passing under the BAB 3 freeway, reaches the area of the town of Offenbach in the "Erlensteg von Bieber" nature reserve. In the straightened bed, it flows here initially in a north-easterly direction for a length of 500 meters, later in a north-westerly direction up to the S-Bahn track to Heusenstamm. The southernmost section, which runs through the nature reserve, is not accessible as there are no paths.

After passing under the Bieber-Heusenstamm-Dietzenbach S-Bahn line in southern Erlensteg, the course of the Bieber first leads in a north-westerly, later northerly and finally north-easterly direction for 1600 meters through species-rich meadows, from which the light blue flowers of the meadow cranesbill and the rose-red flower candles of the broad-leaved orchid shine in early summer, to Bremer Straße on the southern edge of the Bieber district. Here the stream disappears into a 600-metre-long pipeline within the town. Near the Bieber S-Bahn station, east of Germaniastrasse, the piped section ends and the stream flows in a straightened bed, first to the north and then, after passing under the B 448 federal road, in a north-easterly direction until it leaves the town of Offenbach after a distance of 1,700 meters and flows through the urban area of Mühlheim until it flows into the Rodau.

By abandoning ecologically pointless maintenance measures to reinforce the banks, the stream has been able to regenerate in recent years. Its bed became wider and the current weaker. Sandbanks, bank breaks and still water zones initiated the return to a near-natural lowland stream. Thanks to improved wastewater treatment in the southern neighboring communities, several species of fish and numerous small animals feel at home again. In summer, flocks of male banded damselflies can be seen on the lookout for their mates. Flooding beards of the water star provide food and hiding places for small crustaceans and aquatic insects. Extensive renaturation measures have created new habitats in the northern section of the stream.

The water power of the Bieber was used to drive numerous mills until the early 1930s. Today, however, the mill ditches, weirs and mill wheels in the Offenbach section of the stream have long since disappeared. The "Obermühle" mill on the southern edge of the Bieber district and the "Käsmühle" mill on the north-eastern edge of the town are now popular places to visit.

Status August 2021

Text taken from the brochure "Offenbach and its waters - a relationship spanning more than a thousand years" from 2016