Incentive or pressure?

National park: renaturation as a model for success

No other term has caused as much excitement in Austrian politics in recent days as the word "renaturation". But in the Sengsengebirge and Reichraminger Hintergebirge, people know what it means: the Kalkalpen National Park only became a paradise for tourism, animal and plant species through renaturation. However, Director Josef Forstinger understands the fears.

"The Kalkalpen National Park is a successful renaturation project," says National Park Director Josef Forstinger. The forests were used by the iron industry for a long time - "and have been returned to nature."

Today, politicians are proud of the decision to declare over 20,000 hectares of forest a national park in 1997. Around 15,000 hectares of this is protected biotope forest and is considered Austria's largest contiguous forest wilderness.

Wilderness is better for the climate
"Leaving nature to its own devices is the highest form of protection we can give nature," explains biologist Erich Weigand. Allowing nature to take its course means leaving dead wood (dead trunks) lying around; the bark beetle is seen as an accelerator for the conversion to a climate-friendly forest. Some forest roads destroyed by storms have not been rebuilt, while streams are allowed to meander naturally again in other places.

Facts & Figures

Kalkalpen National Park: 20,856 hectares, 89 % is a nature zone.

Renaturation: agricultural and industrial areas and bodies of water are restored to their natural state in order to strengthen the ecosystem - the web of life.

The more species, the more stable
More than 10,000 animal and plant species live in the national park today, an important gene pool for safeguarding biodiversity and thus stabilizing the ecosystem in which we all live.

I hope that courageous steps towards renaturation will continue to be possible. The question is: To what extent does this happen with incentive or pressure?

Josef Forstinger ist seit Jänner 2023 Direktor des Nationalparks

Why is the political wind against renaturation so harsh?
"The fear of pressure on individual landowners or users is huge," analyzes Forstinger. "An intensive process of discussion and persuasion is needed here in order to formulate suitable goals and measures for Austria."