Hohe Tauern National Park

As the Hohe Tauern, jointly owned by the provinces of Carinthia, Salzburg and Tirol, embraces the last of the large areas of linked natural landscapes in Austria, efforts are already being made to make it a national park. Between 1958-64 large areas of Salzburg and Carinthia were proclaimed nature reserves, and in 1971 in Heiligenblut the heads of government of the provinces of Carinthia, Salzburg and Tirol signed an agreement aimed at setting up the "Hohe Tauern National Park". In 1981 Carinthia made a 200 sq.km/77 sq. mi area on the southern slopes of the Hohe Tauern, in the Schober and Glockner groups, a national park; it was extended to 365 sq.km/141 sq. mi in 1986. The northern slopes of the Hohe Tauern in Salzburg - covering 666 sq.km/257 sq. mi and embracing the Venediger, Granatspitze and Glockner groups among others - have been declared a national park since 1984; there are plans to extend it. In Tirol plans have been put forward to make over 700 sq.km/270 sq. mi into such a park, but these ideas are meeting with opposition from the energy lobby. A characteristic of the Hohe Tauern National Park is the juxtaposition of natural terrain and that developed by man. The protected area is divided into three zones: Outer Zone, Central Zone and Specially Protected Areas. The various geological formations, the flora and the fauna all combine to make it an important attraction for visitors.