The charm of the expansive, varied and often untouched countryside of the Southern Black Forest nature park lies in its characteristic shifts between open meadows and forest. This makes it ideally suitable for recreation and sustainable leisure activities. A nature park was established in the Southern Black Forest in 1999 with the aim of preserving this countryside and maintaining a perfect balance between landscape and nature conservation, agriculture and forestry, tourism and housing development in the region. In order to preserve this countryside for future generations to enjoy, any plans relating to the countryside have to take the aspects of nature conservation, agricultrue, forestry and tourism into account. Only through the long-term, sustainable development of the region can the goals of each of the aforementioned areas be combined for the long-term in the interests of sustainable use. This policy is also reflected in the Southern Black Forest nature park's motto: "Protection through use".

As part of a report on sport and tourism it is producing for the Southern Black Forest nature park, the German Sports College in Cologne is collecting and processing all the data and facts on sporting activities in the nature park. Those areas where there are more likely to be conflicts of interest (i.e. nature conservation - agriculture - tourism/sport) have been researched in great detail in order to develop proposals that are in harmony with nature and the countryside.
The standardisation of the network of hiking routes by the Black Forest Society and the reduction of the number of hiking routes is also helping to reroute visitors and promote sustainable recreational activities.