Neusiedler See

Since my last post about Slovenia I did quite a bit of stuff. During the week upon my return, I did some work-related catching up, although I honestly can't find much to show for those 3 days (Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday) between returning from Slovenia and the day trip to Neusiedl am See on Friday. It looks like (from my scanning through files just now) I was in the zone of data analysis for the most part, running the same analysis over and over again in a daze. So it's a good thing I took a break on Friday.

On Friday October 4th, I went with Vicky, Marie, Nathan, and Anil to Neusiedl am See and Neusiedler See (Neusiedl on the Lake and Neusiedler Lake). We were there to learn about saline lakes. I hadn't actually planned to go on this trip but Jen, a post-doc in my lab, suggested I go there for the birds. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a RAMSAR wetland site, and an IUCN natural site. Neusiedler See has the largest reed bed in Europe and can be host to thousands of birds and hundreds of migrating species. So I hopped on the trip mainly for seeing birds. Unfortunately, it was past migration so I didn't see a whole lot, but it turned out that the trip was a really good learning experience for me.

First view of the lake and reeds from an observation tower.

The saline water is readily apparent here.

Neusiedler See has a national park in both Austria and Hungary, but the organization of the national park in both countries is very different from what we know in the United States. The region is well known for its wine production, and we drove by lots of vineyards on our way to the park. The park in Austria is not governed by the federal government, but it was formed by an act of government. Basically, the government said "yes, you can have a national park here" but the administration of the park was left to the park--there are also very limited funds for this park. Fifty percent of the funds come from the region (equivalent to a state in the US) and fifty percent from the the federal government. Sixty percent of the funds are spent on land compensation, which is the main way the park even has land. In Hungary it is a much simpler process (although with its own problems I am sure) because there is no private land, so the government was able to secure the land for their park quite easily.

Another view of the lake.

To secure land for the park, there must be willing private landowners in the area who wish to form agreements with the park to "rent" their land to the park, usually indefinitely. It is not renting technically, but compensation, since renting for 30 years leads to ownership in Austria, which would not be acceptable to the landowners. If the land is "rented" to the park, the park restricts access and restores the land, usually to grassland. There are three types of management: cattle grazing, mowing, and a third that is rarely used so our hosts couldn't even think of it. Farmers usually decide to "rent" their land to the park when it becomes more economical to make money this way than to compete with neighboring vineyards who may have lower wages or higher output.

Vineyards were plentiful around the park trails.

Vines are covered with netting, presumably to protect them
from the abundance of birds, which the park is set to protect.

Grape harvesting equipment

One interesting aspect about the organization of the park is that the individuals that own the cattle that are grazing the park lands don't have to pay to put their cattle there. This is mainly because there is a scarcity of cattle for grazing in the region. In the states and Canada, private individuals almost always have to pay to graze their cattle on public land. The park wants even more cattle for grazing on their land, but because most of the area has been turned to vineyards and not many (or any!) landowners have cattle, it's unlikely. Their desire for cattle is two-fold: for restoring the ecology of the region, and for maintaining the cultural heritage of the region. A special breed of cattle, the Hungarian Grey cattle, were especially suited to this region historically.

Salt aster flowers in the foreground, salt pans in the background.

Finally, I found it interesting that this national park required IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) designation in order to be formed--the Austrian government would not have provided funds to form the park. Without their designation as a natural site, there would not have been any funds to help switch the fishery in the lake (eels) to a more ecologically meaningful one. It took five years to switch from the eel fishery to the more natural fishery, and this switch require five years of funding the fishermen to allow them to survive the switch.

After our day meeting with park staff was finished, we took a walk around one of the hiking trails. The trails was mostly flanked on both sides by vineyards, but we did have some nice views of wetlands and salt pans (as you can see from my photos above). We headed into town to catch our bus from Illmitz to Neusiedl am See, but missed it (we saw the bus go by!). Instead we talked with some nice locals and bought some local wines and honey before catching the bus an hour later. Once in town, we grabbed some really delicious pizza, pumpkin soup (which is so delicious here every time I've had it) and wine, and then made a run for it to the train station. We were running an hour late because we had missed the first bus, but we made it, and with time to spare! It was a great trip, I'll have to go back again at a more appropriate birding time.