Coordinating meadow management with local landowners
Private lands occupy a significant portion of the river valley within inholdings of Thayatal NP, which are dominated by meadows. The economic benefits for farmers to cultivate these meadows are too low to warrant raising of crops there. To prevent the establishment and spread of neophytes in the meadow areas, however, Thayatal NP staff coordinated with farmers to regularly mow these meadows. In turn, farmers were compensated monetarily.
The financial support of the mowing measures came from the Austrian government, who fosters environmentally friendly and extensive forms of agriculture protecting natural habitats in the frame of the ÖPUL-program.
Some of the farmers turned out to be a great help for the maintenance of the meadows and thus the control of the Himalayan Balsam. The established cooperation and contacts can prove to be relevant also in forthcoming activities.