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
Ancient beech forests and primeval beech forests have become so rare that they have been declared a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. European beech trees are only found in Europe. Over the course of several centuries, we Europeans have used them and pushed them back wherever we could. As a result, only a few fragments of extensive, original beech forests remain. This explains their great importance for mankind. The ancient beech forests of the Kalkalpen National Park in Upper Austria and the Dürrenstein Wilderness Area in Lower Austria were therefore declared World Natural Heritage Sites 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.
