PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
In the 19th century large stretches of eastern Austria as well as Hungary and Slovakia were still covered by dunes. Expanses devoid of vegetation gave the wind opportunities to erode the dunes and carry the sand far and wide. This problem of shifting sands and dunes was brought under control from the mid-18th century onwards, essentially by tying the sand down through afforestation. Stability instead of dynamics, was the message, and even now the mention of shifting sands makes farmers frown. Yet today these selfsame Panonnic sand dunes qualify as endangered habitat and were even added to the Habitats Directive as priority habitat when Austria acceded, as they are found nowhere else in the EU. The dynamic environment of the bare sand and the succession stadia which follow are inhabited by some peculiar but very threatened sand-loving animals and plants. Open expanses of sand are however rare. They are threatened by intensive agriculture and forestry, sand quarrying, the proliferation of shrubbery and insufficient erosion and deposition by the wind.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE project was not about to make the dunes mobile again, so there was no reason for ancient fears to be revived. What it did intend to do was preserve and develop the various scattered habitat types which make up the last relics of the sand dune ecosystems, so that their long-term existence as biotope for the endangered associated species is ensured. Pioneer stadia of these ecosystems were to be formed on a small scale by removing trees, opening up the grass sward and stripping off topsoil. Management plans based on the principles of restoring natural dynamics would be prepared, drawing on international experience, and implemented on-site in collaboration with the municipal authorities. There were already close contacts with experts from Hungary, Yugoslavia and Slovakia and these were to be intensified during the LIFE project, which should also create opportunities to carry out tangible protection measures as demonstration actions in these states.
RESULTS
The project carried out actions at the following sites: Sandberge Oberweiden, Weikensdorfer Remise, Wacholderheide Obersiebenbrunn, Gerichtsberg, Erdpresshöhe, Lassee, Windmühle bei Lassee and In den Sandbergen bei Drösing - Plans for management measures for each site were drawn up and regularly revised and updated. - 28 ha of potential priority habitats were purchased/compensated. - A total of 36 ha of bushes have been cut at locations scattered over the project sites, in order to open up sand habitats and stop their overgrowth. - 20 ha sandy arable land has been converted into sand grassland (will develop into priority habitats). - Recurring management: Most important actions done during LIFE are grazing, mowing and the periodical removal of neophytic vegetation. Long-term management contracts have been financed via agri-environmental funds (ÖPUL). - Awareness-raising outputs: exhibition on sand habitats which ran for two years, events, excursions, publications (including on Panonnic sand dune habitats in Slovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia), DVD, website (www.sandduene.at). The project started seed collections and experimental plantations of rare sand dune species, in collaboration with the Botanical Garden of Vienna and a commercial seed-producing company of the Marchfeld region. This action has produced good results. Already, some of the seeds produced have been released on the restored sites. Several regionally protected areas within the pSCIs were created or were increased in size. At least 17 ha have thus been allocated definitively to the purpose of nature conservation as a direct result of this LIFE-Nature project (Sandberge Oberweiden: 10,8 ha; Erdpresshöhe: 3,2 ha; Windmühle: 3 ha). In terms of non-recurring management on the different sand dune sub-sites targeted (removal of invasive trees,shrubs and neophytes, opening of the turf layer, treatment of coppice shoots…), the project achieved the maximum possible given the requirements of landowner and authority permission. Because the problems encountered with getting permits to remove trees covering the priority sand dune habitats were hampering project implementation, the project co-ordinator became actively involved in the revision of the Austrian federal forestry law in 2001. As a result of this work, several important improvements were made to the new law as regards the coherence between the forestry law and the EU nature conservation directives. The main problem was that afforestation and forestry operations were threatening valuable FFH-habitat types of (a) open landscapes and (b) late-successional forests. The legal situation has much improved with the revision of the law. Subsequently, the Lower Austrian regional forestry law was revised as well in early 2003. Due to a new forest definition more adapted to the Lower Austrian forest habitats, populations of non-indigenous trees like Ailanthus altissima and Robinia pseudacacia will not fall under forestry law when they are still under 8 m height. The follow-up of the LIFE project will clearly benefit from this, as young stands can be cut now for sand dune restoration purposes without the lengthy and uncertain permit procedures required in the past.