2023-05-14 06:10:14
The drought of the previous year and in winter not only led to the temporary drying out of saline lakes around Lake Neusiedl, which are worthy of protection. It’s a “bad year as far as the greylag geese are concerned,” said Harald Grabenhofer from the Neusiedler See – Seewinkel National Park during a press tour. It is estimated that only up to 100 families are currently on the road. In previous years, including the Hungarian side of the national park, there were more than 1,500 breeding pairs.
At the beginning of the breeding season, the geese noticed that it was dry in the reeds where their usual breeding grounds are. Many then “remained in the region as non-breeders,” explained Grabenhofer, head of the National Park’s Department for Research, Monitoring and Citizen Science. That is one aspect of the drought. “The rain in April came too late,” he emphasized when visiting a currently water-bearing lake in Illmitz.
The main problem in the Seewinkel is not the lack of precipitation, but the lowering of the groundwater level, reported National Park Director Johannes Ehrenfeldner. “Backwater measures are needed to ensure that not a drop of water flows out of the area,” he said. Drainage canals built for flood protection, such as the one through the Lange Lacke, should be backed up so that the groundwater rises. The topic of water supply to Lake Neusiedl “is a long way away for us as a national park,” Ehrenfeldner stated. Here, politicians should first say what they have in mind.
A high groundwater level is responsible for the fact that the capillary salt transport works in the lakes, Grabenhofer explained. Salt is transported to the surface of the earth through capillaries in the ground. This then prevents water from sinking out of the paintwork. Agriculture has switched to irrigation-intensive crops such as field vegetables, Kukuruz, potatoes and soybeans. A rethink is needed here because of the groundwater level, said Grabenhofer. But the farmers also have to make a living and they have to be offered alternatives, which is already happening.
If you do nothing, it would mean that the paints disappear, stressed Grabenhofer. “But something is being done,” he assured. The salt lakes in the Seewinkel can be found in the Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive and should therefore also be preserved under EU law. Fluctuations, that it is sometimes drier and sometimes less dry, are normal. But climate change also plays a role everywhere.
As a rule, gray geese find ideal conditions in the Seewinkel. They are aquatic and grazing animals, Grabenhofer explained. Around the Lacken there are large meadows that have been used specifically for livestock farming for centuries. His approximately 100 suckler cows with calves are “quasi the biological lawn mowers of the national park,” reported Illmitz organic cattle breeder Mario Fleischhacker.
The cows keep the vegetation short and trample the ground, which is important for the salt lakes, Grabenhofer added. In addition to private herds of cattle grazing in the nature reserve, the national park itself owns around 200 gray cattle and water buffalo.
There are around 2,000 hectares of pasture land in the Seewinkel. Sometimes there are too few cattle for the area, on certain meadows only mowing is done mechanically, reported Grabenhofer. It is about preserving the landscape and biodiversity for future generations. Also: “Intact and managed grassland systems can store more CO2 than forests,” said the national park expert, referring to the fight against global warming.
( SERVICE – information and tours: www.nationalparkneusiedlersee.at – Umbrella organization National Parks Austria: www.nationalparksaustria.at )
1684045121
#Bad #year #geese #Seewinkel #due #drought