NATIONAL PARK
KALKALPEN
THE UNMISTAKABLE TRADEMARKS
Forest wilderness and
natural diversity
The Kalkalpen National Park protects Austria's largest forest wilderness with the longest intact stream ecosystem in the Northern Limestone Alps. The wild mountain forests offer an extraordinary variety of biotopes and are home to an outstanding wealth of animal and plant species. 16,502 hectares of the national park area are "forest wilderness" - that is unique in Austria!
Ancient beech forests and primeval beech forests
UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site
The European beech is only found in Europe - beech forests once dominated the continent. Over the course of several centuries, we humans have used the beech and pushed it back extensively. Original, natural beech forests can therefore only be found in a few fragments. This explains their great importance for mankind. The ancient beech forests in the Kalkalpen National Park in Upper Austria and the Dürrenstein-Lassingtal Wilderness Area in Lower Austria were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017.
Wild variety
The wild mountain forests in the Kalkalpen National Park offer an extraordinary variety of biotopes and are home to an outstanding wealth of animal and plant species. The large number of "primeval forest species", which can only survive in forests with sufficient old trees and deadwood, is remarkable.
