The side of the Hochvogel lying on German territory, including the neighbouring mountains and valleys, is part of the Allgäu High Alps Nature Reserve. On the Austrian side there is no nature reserve near the summit. The bottom of the Hornbach valley, which borders the Hochvogel to the south, together with large parts of the Lech valley and its side valleys was designated on 1 December 2004 as the Tyrolean Lech Nature Reserve. It has an area of .