The guiding principle for nature and landscape conservation in Wiesbaden is to protect, use and maintain a maximum of nature and landscape and biodiversity despite economic and structural development. The landscape conservation principle is called "conservation through use". This refers to the extensive use of certain parts of the cultural landscape. Experts speak of so-called utilization biotopes. These include, above all, species-rich grasslands and orchards, but also ecologically managed deciduous forests and fields. People seeking recreation should experience the landscape and treat Wiesbaden's flora and fauna with respect at the same time.

The diversity of our landscapes is characterized by the so-called natural division of the landscape. The Wiesbadener Kessel (today the city center) is embedded between the Taunus and the Taunus foreland, the Rheingau and the Rhine-Main lowlands (landscapes of the Ur-Main). What we perceive and find today as an unspoiled landscape is the result of thousands of years of landscape and utilization history, essentially the result of agricultural and forestry use. For the most part, today we "only" recognize landscape elements and parts with a history of development from the last three centuries. These are therefore cultural landscapes. There are no more natural landscapes in Wiesbaden today.

The aim of nature and landscape conservation in Wiesbaden is to preserve, maintain and develop the shape and diversity of these cultural landscapes. These include, for example, landscape parks such as Biebrich Palace Park and the old green spaces of Nerotalparkanlagen, Kurpark and Albrecht-Dürer-Anlage, as well as the new Wiesbaden landscape parks Wellritztal, Tennelbachtal and Fasaneriefeld/Kloster Klarenthal, which have been developed since 2000. They all run along the stream valleys from the city center upstream into the forests. Although the forests to the north of Wiesbaden are dominated by forestry, the old city forest directly on the city boundary with beech and oak stands, some of which are 150-250 years old, and its great structural diversity is extremely valuable and worthy of protection for biotope and species conservation, including the forest meadows

The widely ramified forest meadow valleys of Lippbachtal, Weilburger Tal, Rabengrund, Goldsteintal, Kellersbachtal, Trockenborn and Theistal are largely European protected areas (NATURA 2000 sites). They are "jewels for every botanist and zoologist", but also very popular local recreation areas. Due to the extensive and traditional use of meadows (haymaking), mostly by traditional farms, although mowing is now carried out with large tractors, these sites are typical of today's rare plants such as orchids and sedge species as well as flowering plants such as dyer's clefthoof, meadow scabious, brook carnation root, medicinal cistus, devil's claw and devil's-bit scabious, marsh fleabane and marsh pippau, small meadowsweet, meadow elecampane and mountain clover. The density of endangered plant communities is particularly high in the Wiesbaden city forest area. Of particular note here are bristle grass meadows, pipe grass meadows, lean species-rich lowland meadows, as well as wet meadows and wet meadows such as woodland swamps, sedge meadows, rush meadows and wet, colorful tall herb meadows.

The diversity of vegetation brings with it a diversity of fauna. Species such as the marsh grasshopper, butterfly species such as the blue butterfly, Spanish flag, swallowtail and checkerboard are characteristic of these grasslands, which are worthy of protection. The environmental department of the city of Wiesbaden has been organizing landscape conservation for years and works closely with the state of Hesse and nature conservation associations. The focus of many nature conservation measures is, for example, the entire Wäschbach valley from Heßloch via Kloppenheim, Igstadt and Erbenheim to the Salzbach valley and the widely ramified Wickerbach valley including the accompanying slopes, ridges and reed landscapes. The grasslands in the areas of Auringer Mühle, Aubachtal, Wickerbachtal below Hockenberger Mühle and Delkenheimer Gemeindewiesen are examples of high-quality grassland complexes. In the western districts of Frauenstein and Schierstein, it is primarily the stream valleys such as the Grorother Bachtal with the landscape park around the Grorother Mühle, the Erlenbachtal with the Sommerberg nature reserve (NSG), the Leierbachtal and the vineyard landscapes at Herrnberg, Nürnberger Hof and Leierkopf/Marschall.

Remnants of the floodplain landscapes along the Rhine and Main rivers are further focal points for nature conservation measures. These include the Rettbergs and Petersaue islands on the Rhine as well as the Schiersteiner Wiesen (waterworks site) and Niederwallufer Bucht (nature reserve). The protection, maintenance and development of parts of the Maara floodplain and the Main meadows near Kostheim are also important for biotope and species protection. Today, parts of the cultural landscape are still characterized by relatively small-scale agricultural use with many orchards and small meadows. These can be found above all in the historic cultural landscapes of the Rheingau in Frauenstein and Schierstein and the pre-Taunus in Naurod, Auringen, Kloppenheim and Breckenheim as well as east of the Wickerbach between Igstadt and Medenbach. The large Breckenheim slope as far as Langenhain and the Wäschbach slope should also be mentioned here.

Interesting and now rare plant species that indicate old uses, e.g. lean meadows and pastures, are the shaggy rattle, meadow primrose, corn vetch, meadow scabious and meadow sage. Particular rarities of the flora are the crested hyacinth, meadow elecampane, knotted milk star and wild tulip. However, these are all only remnant sites, similar to the habitats of specialized animal species such as sand lizards and grasshoppers. In future, the task of nature and landscape conservation will be to restore, develop and permanently secure those parts of the cultural landscape and biotopes as habitats for animals and plants that are threatened and often still isolated from one another. Today, this applies above all to arable areas as well as so-called post-mining landscapes, new types of landscape that are to be made available again for people, animals and plants after the extraction of raw materials.

The City of Wiesbaden's partners in nature and landscape conservation have been and continue to be, above all, agricultural businesses, horticultural and landscape maintenance companies, Wiesbaden employment companies and numerous initiatives, associations, schools and nature conservation organizations as well as the State of Hesse.