The forest within Wiesbaden's city limits stretches along the mountainside and is bordered by the outskirts of the city to the north and the Taunus ridge. Elongated stream and meadow valleys stretching towards the Rhine divide up the terrain.

The alluvial forest of the Rettbergsaue Rhine island is a special feature. The area covers a total of around 6,250 ha (= 62.5 km2) and thus accounts for around 30% of the urban area. The largest part of the forest is owned by the city (City Forestry Office: 4,400 ha), a smaller part belongs to the forest of the state of Hesse (Hessian Forestry Office Chausseehaus: 1,600 ha). A few remaining areas belong to other public bodies and private owners.

Outside its political boundaries, Wiesbaden owns a further 234 ha of forest in neighboring municipalities. The forest owned by the city consists of an original core area of approx. 900 ha, to which the municipal forest of incorporated districts was added, particularly in the period from 1926-28, but also on the occasion of the incorporation in 1977. Since the mid-1960s, Wiesbaden has taken over its own forestry operations (city forestry office). The "Höhe" (approximately the summit of Hohe Kanzel to Hohe Wurzel) was a valuable forest in the Wiesbaden area.

From 1353 onwards, no one was allowed to hunt, clear, burn coal, catch birds and fish or harvest wood in the Wiesbadener Mark without the permission of the Counts of Nassau. Numerous villages (today's Wiesbaden suburbs) were named as fellow marchers. The landlords soon gained the upper hand in the Markgenossenschaft, which was originally free and only subordinate to the empire. The affairs of the Markwald were negotiated and regulated at the so-called Märkergedinge. Numerous sovereign ordinances from 1359-1805 ensured that the sustainability of the forest was guaranteed.

With the introduction of Roman law (personal ownership in ideal shares) into the German legal system (cooperative as joint owner) and accelerated by the Thirty Years' War, the market cooperative order was dissolved - largely unregulated - in favor of private rights. In 1807 , Duke Friedrich August zu Nassau set up a forestry commission which drew up a comprehensive division plan. As a result, an agreement was signed in 1822, according to which 711 hectares of forest were transferred to the town and immediately incorporated. Through further purchases and afforestation, this original core of the municipal forest grew to around 900 hectares.

The different altitudes in the Vordertaunus and Hochtaunus growth areas cause climatic differences in the locations. The Wiesbaden forest stretches from the mild wine-growing climate up to the rough Taunus ridge, i.e. in rapid succession from the marginal mixed oak forest zone to the mixed beech forest zone to the lower beech zone. As is generally the case in the Taunus, the amount of rainfall is rather weakly influenced by the altitude and is at a fairly low level, essentially 650 to 750 mm per year. In view of the low rainfall, the water-storing capacity of the soils is of great importance as a site factor - favorable in the case of the widely deep soils rich in fine soil at the foot of slopes, in valleys and hollows, critical on shallow, sometimes even rocky areas on hilltops and ridges. The geological conditions and the loess-loamy soil provide good conditions for forest growth over large areas.

The site factors result in ecological diversity. By nature, the Wiesbaden forest is a deciduous forest area in which beech trees predominate and, in drier and warmer climates, oak trees also dominate the forest structure. The forest is similar today: 54 % beech, 21 % oak and 6 % "other deciduous tree species" such as cherry, maple and ash (81 % deciduous trees). The remaining 19 % is made up of conifers such as spruce, Douglas fir, pine and larch. Mixed forest consisting of at least four tree species predominates with 62 %. At 37 %, tree stands over 100 years old are represented to an above-average extent (in comparison: Hesse: 31 %, Germany: 18 %).

The fauna is rich in species and individuals. Game species include deer, wild boar and roe deer. The game population is kept at a level conducive to the flourishing of the forest through hunting. This task is largely carried out by hunting tenants and to a lesser extent by municipal and state forestry staff. Unfortunately, around a third of the game estimated to be necessary for shooting ("shooting plan") falls victim to road traffic. Special features of the plant world are mainly found on the so-called non-timber ground areas, in particular the numerous forest meadows, most of which are protected, but also on particularly wet or extremely dry forest sites.

Cultural monuments, such as burial mounds, ring walls, sites for glass production, charcoal burners (= former sites of charcoal kilns), foundation walls of Roman manor houses, prove that the forest has reclaimed some areas that were once cleared and used by humans. Almost the entire forest area performs protective and recreational functions, in particular climate protection. It is part of the Taunus landscape conservation area and the Rhine-Taunus Nature Park. 11% of the forest has been declared a protected forest and 67% a conservation forest. Several nature reserves, protected landscape features and natural monuments as well as old-growth islands and biotope protection forests as strict forms of species and biotope protection apply to around 10% of the area. Large parts of the forest fulfill the protection requirements as an FFH area (Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive) under EU law and are registered and designated as "beech forests north of Wiesbaden", as is the Rettbergsaue island on the Rhine with its alluvial forest. They are therefore part of the European Natura 2000 ecological network of protected areas.

The use of the renewable raw material wood is based on the principle of sustainability with the methods of natural forestry. The city's own forest is certified in accordance with the Naturland forestry guidelines and the rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). The forest owned by the state has joined the PEFC certificate (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes). All three of these different certification systems confirm that the wood on offer originates from ecological forestry.