Existing vegetation is carefully removed using an excavator and promptly reused, thus preserving the site's biodiversity. For large-scale interventions, seeds of site-appropriate, subalpine, and alpine species can now also be used. Twenty different grasses , clover species, and herbs were collected from suitable donor sites across the Alps and are now being cultivated on a large scale by farmers.
Depending on altitude, parent material, and intended use, these are combined to create various revegetation mixtures for alpine pastures, ski slopes, or embankments. In combination with revegetation techniques that reliably protect against erosion, this results in durable, site-appropriate, low-maintenance revegetation , as has been tested and proven in numerous national and international projects of the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein. This successful interplay of techniques, methods, and materials has been disseminated to project managers, planning offices, authorities, and contractors at numerous specialist events in recent years. In cooperation HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein, the state of Tyrol and various experts, the modern state of knowledge was summarized in a guideline and an Austrian standard (ÖNorm) and is, at least in Austria, now established practice.
By the way : The free handout on the topic of "High-altitude greening in Austria - state of the art and current challenges" by Bernhard Krautzer, Christian Partl and Wilhelm Graiss is available below to browse and download.
If you are interested in these topics or would like to learn more, we cordially invite you to listen to our podcast.
If you are interested in revegetation in high altitudes, on alpine pastures, after the construction of roads or ski slopes, listen to this podcast with Priv. Doz. Dr. Andreas Steinwidder and Dr. Bernhard Krautzer.
Links on the topic of high-altitude vegetation:
- Austrian Working Group for Grassland and Livestock Farming - Guideline: Site-appropriate recultivation and revegetation in high altitudes
- Austrian-standards.at (ÖNORM) - Requirements for ecologically oriented revegetation after technical interventions in high alpine regions
