True eco-treasures

Precious Kamptal fauna to be protected in nature park

The Kampwald is to become the third national park in Lower Austria.(Bild: Attila Molnar)

Unique natural treasures with primeval giant trees and archaic deep lakes are now to be ennobled as the green heart of a national park.

Hidden away and quite forgotten by the world, the Kampwald has been resting in peace for thousands of years. "The beauty of this paradisiacal treasure of our homeland will never be touched," assures Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, who has now gathered her provincial councillors Stephan Pernkopf and Ludwig Schleritzko around the green table to announce the national park's good news. The common goal of the ÖVP politicians, who were also joined by Susanne Rosenkranz, the FPÖ provincial councillor responsible for the area: a zone of around 3,500 hectares is to become the third national park in the vast country.

White-tailed eagles have their territories in the future national park.(Bild: Peter Frießer)

Biodiversity at the military training area
"The state-owned Windhag Scholarship Foundation is contributing a large part of the area," enthuses Schleritzko, who - as reported - presented the project exclusively to the "Krone" together with Pernkopf during a site inspection. The first bridgeheads: the 276-hectare Dobratal nature reserve, but also the military training area in Allentsteig. On this 10,000-hectare area, nature has been able to unfold in all its diversity in recent years. Although the maneuver area cannot become part of the national park, as an adjacent area with a high level of biodiversity, it is indispensable in its blossoming.