Annual Report 2023

2023 – A completely normal season at the nature park – or not? We enjoyed a whole range of nature park experiences, some of which we would like to highlight again as part of this annual report.

Opening Ceremony for the Expanded Visitor Center

The official opening ceremony of the newly designed and expanded visitor center in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein and Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf took place on Friday, April 28th, 2023.

The visitor center offers guests significant benefits: the newly structured entrance area allows barrier-free access in addition to digital access. The newly created multifunctional room provides plenty of space for our improved and expanded education programs, and also allows us to welcome groups even in poor weather. With the nature park office now in the new expansion, there is more than enough room for all the employees and customer service has been improved. The expanded shop offers guests the opportunity to take regional specialties and nature park products home with them and thus extend the nature park experience.

Landscapes Full of Superheroes

Our Action Day with the Nature Park School

May 24th is not only International Day of Parks, in 2023 this day was also our Biodiversity Day, which we celebrated together with our Nature Park School, VS Hinterbrühl, under the motto “Landscapes Full of Superheroes”. The children first learned a lot about insects with superpowers and outstanding characteristics. They also drew comics about these diverse superheroes. The weather was wonderful for our Action Day. At various stations we diligently searched, researched and of course asked questions on the topics of giant trees, creatures in the water, in dead wood and in the ground as well as jobs in the nature park! In total, the children discovered more than 320 different animals and compiled them to make a rough identification. We then assigned them to approximately 30 different groups.

Orchids in the Nature Park

.. and a Very Special Discovery

Orchids are among the most sensitive of plants that only thrive in extremely specific conditions. They are true specialists and wherever they are found it usually indicates that it is a well-cared-for area with a high level of biodiversity. This is also the case on the Diana Wiese in Naturpark Sparbach. This semi-dry lawn is mowed once a year, usually in the second half of July, and there is no fertilization.

In 2017, bee orchids were first discovered in the meadow. In 2023, we also documented for the very first time late spider orchids and a hybrid of late spider and bee orchids, something truly very special. For this hybrid, it is necessary that an insect visits both plants, as a result of which seeds are formed and germinate. Orchid seeds are very small, have practically no nutrient tissue (like beechnuts or acorns) and depend on the support of the appropriate fungal mycelium in the subsoil to germinate. It can sometimes take several years from one orchid generation to the next.

Visit by a Group from Korea

The Forest Training Institute of the Korea Forest Service visited Naturpark Sparbach in the first week of July 2023. During a guided tour, the 29 Korean guests received an overview of sustainable forest management, wild animals and visitors, the extensive education program and the nature park as a protected area. The guests from Korea were particularly impressed by the implementation of the four-pillar philosophy of the Austrian Nature Parks, the extensive education program and of course, the free-roaming wild boars.

Long Night of Nature Parks

On the Trail of Owls and Ural Owls

The Long Night of Nature Parks on Saturday, September 16th, 2023, attracted scores of people interested in owls and Ural owls for a guided tour by Richard Zink and Robin Kirchmair from the Austrian Bird Observatory - Seebarn Station. Even if the owls were scarce, the participants were able to learn a lot of interesting facts about the rarely seen animals and experience Naturpark Sparbach at a special time.

The evening ended with something particularly exciting for the participants; namely the chance to look through a night vision device!

Traces of Former Hunting Use...

...in the Historical Gardens, Parks and Cultural Landscapes

At the end of September, a cooperation event organized by the University of Agricultural and Environmental Education and Naturpark Sparbach took place in the nature park as part of the event series “Traces of Former Hunting Uses in Historical Gardens, Parks and Cultural Landscapes”. The participants gained insights into the history of Naturpark Sparbach and its use for hunting. During the hike, they visited places that mostly serve as photo opportunities for guests in today’s nature park, but were created at the beginning of the 19th century as elements of the landscape park based on the English model (with the exception of the Johannstein ruin, which dates back to the Middle Ages). The cultural landscape of the nature park today and the biodiversity that can be discovered are very closely related to hunting and forestry use.

Role Model Accessibility Award

In October, the Naturpark Sparbach team was honored with the “Role Model Accessibility” award for their comprehensive efforts in this diverse subject area.

The “Role Model Accessibility” award from BhW Lower Austria (Education has Value) highlights those people and institutions who are considerate of others and thus help to break down barriers and hurdles.

Naturpark Sparbach was awarded in the leisure and events category. The project submission “Simply Nature Park” describes the measures that have been taken in recent years: the design of 2 routes that are suitable for wheelchairs and strollers, the barrier-free redesign of the visitor center, the nature park audio guide and the extensive education program that is well-suited for groups with special needs as well as foreign language groups.

Science Meets School

The Children at Our Nature Park School Become Young Climate Researchers

The Science Meets School project is a joint project that is implemented in a total of 6 nature park schools together with the respective nature park. It is organized by the Association of Nature Parks in Lower Austria.

Thanks to their diversity, hedges are ideally suited as a “measurement instrument” to document climate change. For example, a series of observations of the black elderberry since the 1950s show that today, flowering begins on average more than 3 weeks earlier.

As part of this project, the children from the nature park school planted the climate hedge and the observation will begin at the beginning of the coming growing season. When do the leaves begin to sprout, when do they bloom, what about the ripening of the fruit and the autumn color. This data will be collected and the children will document the phenological phenomena together with the nature park. All of this data will be provided to the GeoSphere Austria data network and will thus serve to further climate research. The project is also supported by the LACON office.