Protective forests
Austria’s protective forests are true all-rounders. Being a green, cheap and sustainably effective protective infrastructure against avalanches, rockfall and mudflow, it is only thanks to these protective forests that permanent settlement of many parts of Austria is possible.
Without the protective effect of forests on the spot next to 50 % of Austria’s living and working environment could not be used.
Protective forests also protect against soil erosion, ensure the quality of our water and reduce the risk of floods. The preservation and the improvement of the protective function of forests constitute important investments in the habitability and development of Austrian regions and mountain areas. Protective forests account for around 42 percent of Austria’s total forest area. Their special function often requires a specific form of management and tending.
The forest ecosystem
The forest ecosystem, also the one having a protective function, is permanently in a state of flux and develops dynamically. Again and again disturbances, like windbreaks, harmful insects or changed climatic conditions such as dry periods or big masses of snow within a short period of time, cause damage in forests. Wildlife, too, has an impact on forest stands. In steep areas these influences often represent major challenges in protective forest management.
For many forest owners, tending protective forests in these hardly accessible locations is unprofitable; a changed leisure-time behaviour may be a problem for the management in terms of work safety and the safety of roads and paths. Regionally excessive game densities can endanger the important natural regeneration and regrowing young trees. At many places in Austria these often interlocking factors jeopardise the stand stability of protective forests.
In many protective forests there is great need for action. We need powerful responses to this situation as well as functional and practical solutions for the future!
The action programme “Forests protect us”
The action programme “Forests protect us” (“Der Wald schützt uns”) paves the way for future-fit protective forests in Austria. In the course of the next few years the Federal Government will invest in research and in the development of planning instruments, support interdisciplinary political coordination, simplify administrative steps for forest owners, coordinate the subsidisation policy in protective forests, raise people’s awareness for and sensitise them for natural hazards and protective forests in Austria and create networks of all stakeholders including our international guests in mountain regions.
With this initiative, Austria’s protective forests are strengthened for the long term and highlighted as an important component in the prevention of natural hazards.
For more information on protective forests in Austria, their multiple effects and numerous actions, see www.protective-forest.at .