!!!Donau-Auen

Danube Wetlands, Vienna, Lower Austria, largest self-contained wetland 
area in Central Europe; national park since 1996; extends from the  
Lobau in Vienna to the state border; apart from the  Wachau region it 
is the last stretch in Austria where the River  Danube flows freely 
over a distance of 47 km. Habitat of more than 5,000 animal 
species and breeding ground for 109 bird species; 63 fish species, 13 
classes of amphibia, 9 reptile species (including the endangered 
European pond tortoise); of 231 species of vertebrates a number are 
acutely threatened with extinction. The area (9,300 hectares) 
comprises forested wetlands, meadows, high gravel deposits 
("Heisslaends"), the Danube and its tributaries, pools, gravel and 
sand banks as well as islands. The ecosystem depends on periodic 
floodings, cyclically rising and falling ground-water levels and 
constant and undisturbed exchange of water between river and 
ground-water reservoir. These distinct water movements promote the 
rich growth of vegetation.

\\
The planned construction of a power station near Hainburg led to what 
has since been called the "wetland occupation" ( Occupation of 
Hainburg Au) in December 1984. The ecological commission set up in its 
wake advocated the creation of a national park. In 1991 the federal 
authorities and the provinces of Lower Austria and Vienna commissioned 
the Betriebsgesellschaft Marchfeldkanal to plan the national park. 
Suggestions for the realisation of the project were presented and the 
impacts of various forms of power stations on the region were 
demonstrated. A multi-disciplinary group of scientists declared that a 
power station was incompatible with the maintenance and the protection 
of the natural wetlands in the form of a national park.

!Literature
E. Wendelberger, Gruene Wildnis am grossen Strom, 1982; 
H. P. Graner, Nationalpark Donau-March-Thaya-Auen, 1991; 
Nationalpark Donau-Auen/Betriebsgesellschaft Marchfeldkanal (ed.), 
final report, 1994; W. Gamerith, D.-A. - Naturreichtum im 
Nationalpark, 1999.


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