Meadow monitoring in the Ramsar region of Keutschacher Seental

Associated persons Christian Keusch
Clients Office of the Carinthian Government
Regions Austria
Year 2006

The wetland meadows of the Keutschacher Seental region are in danger of disappearing. The local Ramsar association hopes to prevent this with a new strategy for protecting wetland meadows: since 2006, a test area has been allocated as grazing land to Huzul horses. These traditional horses come from the East Carpathian mountains. They eat the delicious grass of the wetland meadows and enjoy grazing here. Their low weight means that the Huzul horses do less damage to the ground than other breeds of horse. IA monitoring system is being implemented to document the effect of this Huzul horse grazing on these precious meadows. E.C.O. has devised the monitoring scheme and is responsible for its implementation. Positive overall results could mean that this grazing scheme will be applied to broader areas.