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By Andreas Beckmann The establishment of the Thayatal National Park in Austria on the first of this year is just one more indication of how much things have changed in Central Europe since 1989. The new park joins the larger Podyji National Park that was established nine years ago on the Czech side of the Thaya River (known in Czech as the Dyje). Together, the two parks will protect an area of exceptional natural value and present one more biocenter in the developing ecological network that is gradually being stretched across Europe (see Connecting Europe's ecological networks, above). The Podyji and Thayatal National Parks extend along 40 km of the Dyje/Thaya river valley between southern Moravia and northern Austria. The river has carved a deep, canyon-like valley into the folds of this hilly area at the southern edge of the Bohemian-Moravian Uplands. It loops crazily between steep hillsides slashed by tributary streams and studded by cliffs and bizarre rock formations. The spectacular scenery, sprinkled with the ruins of a
few medieval castles, is home to a rich diversity of plants and animals,
from river otter to black storks and a tremendous diversity of butterflies
and other insects. Among the 77 species of protected flora found in Podyji/Thayatal
are 18 rare types of orchids. The forest cover that extends over 84
percent of the park's territory is mostly natural. Temperate varieties of
flora and fauna from the southeastern Pannonian area penetrate the river
valley from the east, while Located on the former green strip of no-man's land between what once was East and West, Thayatal/Podyji is the latest in a growing number of cross-border protected areas that are part of the "Europarks" and "Parks for Life" initiatives and that hopefully signal closer cooperation and a greener future for Europe. The Czech Podyji National Park was established in May 1991, shortly after the Velvet Revolution, along with the Sumava National Park, a much larger cross-border park along the Bavarian border likewise located in the folds of the former Iron Curtain. A Czech-Austrian Declaration signed by the Czech and Austrian environmental ministers at the end of last year agreed to mutual coordination of park management as well as cooperation in scientific research and promotion of the parks. The area was strictly off limits to tourists little more than a decade ago, when the natural treasures of the Dyje river valley were protected by barbed wire and border guards with orders to shoot to kill. Since then, a growing number of people have discovered the Dyje valley, attracted by the natural as well as the cultural features of the area. Located along the Prague-Vienna Greenway, the national park is bordered by the wine-growing region around Znojmo in the east, and the beautiful, baroque chateau at Vranov nad Dyjí at its western edge. Establishment of the Austrian park is expected to further increase interest in the area. Tomas Rothrockl, director of the Podyji National Park, is not unduly concerned by the rising pressure of visitors. "We do expect the number of people coming here to grow gradually," he says, "but we don't have any of the problems of the Cronies National Park (a popular park in northern Bohemia) … and if things do get out of hand, we have the authority to undertake any necessary measures to protect the biodiversity here, including limiting the number of people allowed in the park or declaring areas off limits." The park is an active partner of the Greenways program, a non-profit initiative which promotes environmentally friendly tourism along a "green" corridor from Prague to Vienna. "We would like to encourage a kind of tourism here that is more favourable to the environment, including cycling and hiking, and in which people take a deeper interest in the places and the people they are visiting," explains Rothrockl. Sustainable tourism could also generate income for the communities living around the park in a manner respecting the area's unique natural and cultural heritage. Just off the Prague-Vienna cycling route in the middle of Podyji National Park, and next to the park's attractive visitor's centre (located in a building that once housed border guards), a lonely stretch of barbed wire and guard towers remain standing as a testament to the Cold War's former front line. Abandoned in the midst of the picturesque green landscape, this remaining piece of the Iron Curtain now seems a strange yet nevertheless potent reminder of how much nature protection in Central Europe has changed. |
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