The Enns River, with its wetlands, provides habitat for a multitude of protected animal and plant species of community interest. The expansion of the Eastern Alpine railway network was the decisive factor in the Enns regulation measures undertaken between 1860 and 1960, culminating in the first channelization near Trautenfels Castle in what is now the municipality of Stainach-Pürgg. Until then, the Enns meandered through the valley floor, and even moderate rainfall led to significant flooding. Originally, the basin landscape was also used for agriculture to ensure food security; the more productive livestock farming was subsequently expanded (Güntschl, 1960).
At the beginning of the 19th century, the population became impoverished, partly due to the decline of mining and the cattle trade. The valley floor became marshy due to increased flooding caused by extensive deforestation of the surrounding forests. The regulation of the Enns River also led to large-scale drainage projects to gain new agricultural land, and land consolidation made mechanized farming possible. Even then, landscape modifications were intensified for industrial facilities, residential areas, and infrastructure (the Enns Valley railway line and the Enns Valley federal highway B320). Single-cut meadows and horse pastures were transformed into multi-cut permanent meadows without fertilization, and increasingly, cornfields were cultivated for animal feed production. The revitalization of cooperatives boosted dairy farming in the region.
With an event probability of approximately 10 years, the areas are still affected by flooding, and the characteristic wet meadows are therefore primarily suitable for extensive grassland farming. Mudslides and floods in the side valleys also affect some settlement areas.
However, remnants of near-natural fens and raised bogs, as well as extensively used litter meadows, remain that have not been converted into species-poor, nutrient-rich meadows. The characteristic species of the Middle Styrian Enns Valley, the Corn Crake (Crex crex) and the Siberian Iris (Iris sibirica), along with many other rare plant and animal species, must be preserved, and their corresponding habitats must be restored, i.e., maintained. These areas in the Enns Valley are now part of the European network of protected areas under the Habitats and Birds Directives and were designated as Natura 2000 sites by decree in 2006. The designation of these areas, some of which overlap, was not without conflicts between land use and nature conservation interests. The protection of natural habitats and wild animals and plants is enshrined in the Habitats Directive; at the same time, economic, social, cultural, and regional requirements must be taken into account. In each designated area, the necessary measures must be implemented in accordance with the relevant conservation objectives. However, the regulations designating Natura 2000 sites do not stipulate any mandatory measures for maintaining the favorable conservation status of the protected species and habitats. Such measures can only be achieved through contractual nature conservation agreements, i.e., by mutual consent of landowners and those with rights of use. Furthermore, land uses falling under federal jurisdiction (e.g., mining, railways and roads, the armed forces) are not restricted (LGBL. No. 56/2006). The protected areas and their buffer zones at the foot of the Grimming mountain are thus confronted with precisely these conflicts of interest.
Most of these areas continue to be used for agriculture, primarily as grassland for fodder production, but arable farming, especially in the form of fodder maize, is steadily increasing in these Natura 2000 areas. Land consumption for commercial and residential development has also been evident over the last 20 years.
Good practice examples on the wildflower meadows in and around Trautenfels are intended to demonstrate how adapted ecological management can lead to the re-establishment of wildflower meadows in the central Styrian Enns Valley. Every year at the end of May, the magnificent display of blossoms can be observed at the foot of the Grimming mountain. Since mid-June, the calls of the corncrake can once again be heard in areas that have not yet been mowed.
Further details on the landscape change from the past to the future are presented in the following article (eco.mont-Volume15, Number 2, July 2023).
