Maintaining Protected Areas in central Lower Austria

Austria has many, varied protected areas which do not have their own management, yet still need to be maintained and administered (nature conservation areas, Natura 2000 areas, natural monuments). For this reason many provinces – including Lower Austria – are trying to develop a system for maintaining protected areas. 2009 saw the start of the pilot project “Maintaining protected areas in central Lower Austria”, which covered the Natura 2000 areas Wienerwald – Thermenregion, Tullnerfelder Donau-Auen and Wachau – Jauerling, and also nature conservation areas and natural monuments throughout the area. E.C.O. supported the implementation and documentation of the pilot project, undertook an evaluation of the way the protected areas were being maintained and developed sub-projects for future implementation. The results of the pilot project will later serve as a model for maintaining all the protected areas in Lower Austria.