National parks of Austria

Mountains in Kalkalpen National Park

There are seven national parks in Austria. These parks have a combined area of 2,376 km², which is 2.8% of the total area of Austria.^[1] They include each of Austria's most important natural landscape types — alluvial forest, Alpine massif, Pannonian steppe and rocky valleys.^[2]

Austria's national parks are:

• Donau-Auen National Park
• Gesäuse National Park
• Hohe Tauern National Park — Hohe Tauern
• Kalkalpen National Park
• Neusiedler See – Seewinkel National Park — Neusiedler See
• Nockberge National Park^[3]
• Thayatal National Park — Thaya valley

Except for Nockberge National Park, all of Austria's national parks meets ICUN Category II standards. The parks are managed by contracts between one or more of the federal states and the Austrian government.^[2] The financing is shared equally between the Austrian government and the province.^[1] The parks provide the public with educational services, information, and leisure activities.^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Nationalparks Austria. "Welcome to Austria’s National Parks" (PDF). http://www.nationalparks.at/filemanager/download/31370/. Retrieved 2011-05-21. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2004-01-01). Oecd Environmental Performance Reviews. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. ISBN 92-64-01888-3. 
3. ^ The park has an official IUCN V category of "protected landscape".

External links

• (German) Nationalparks Austria Official site.