Objective
The LIFE project is to help secure the entire primeval forest and create a 700 ha buffer zone around it where there is no forestry exploitation. This entails paying out one-off compensations to end all forms of possible use by the private owners who control all of this land. Obviously compensation for giving up forestry heads the list, but also hunting will have to be adapted to the site's ecological requirements. These measures go hand in glove with the establishment of a strict nature reserve and the compilation of an inventory of species and habitats as well as a management plan. Forestry tracks in the buffer zone are to be removed and the current forest management will be assisted by two nature conservation bodies in future for the task of managing visitors. In so doing, the project will ensure that this primeval forest retains its vitality, thereby guaranteeing that there will continue to be such virgin forests in central Europe in times to come.
"Primeval forests in central Europe? Are there really any left?", many might ask sceptically. Yes, there are some left - even if only as small remnants. The biggest remnant of primeval forest in the Alps, dubbed 'Rothwald', covers the south-eastern slopes of the 1,878 metre Dürrenstein mountain, near the the border between Lower Austria and Styria. About 460 hectares are true primeval forest: they have never been exploited for forestry; any tree or branch which falls down just stays lying on the ground; there are no tracks. Consequently some ten different forest types within the spruce-fir-beech association as well as bear, lynx, golden eagle, black grouse and white-backed woodpecker were able to find a haven here, while representatives of the severely threatened saproxylic fauna, such as the gorgeous scintillating blue beetle Rosalia alpina, survived in this refuge.
277 ha of the Rothwald have been under strict protection since 1942, but the rest of the primeval forest is threatened by the absence of full protection against forestry, the influence of adjoining production forests (invasion of non-indigenous plant species, spread by pollen), excessive densities of game animals which hinder the rejuvenation of the principal tree species, the lack of any conservation-oriented management and rising visitor pressure.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
1014 Wien
Austria