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snow of tomorrow

Snow of Tomorrow | A time-out from people

Protecting wild animals between personal responsibility and protection zones

by Birgit Kantner (ÖAV) • 02/14/2022
Ski track through the wildlife's living room: We can choose where we go in the mountains. The animals are at home here and have priority.

Skiing through the wildlife's living room: We can choose where we go in the mountains. The animals are at home here and have priority.

LH

Skiing through the wildlife's living room: We can choose where we go in the mountains. The animals are at home here and have priority.

LH
As freeriders and snowboarders, we like to enjoy nature away from the regulated and marked slopes. The free flow, your own line is always interesting. With more freedom comes more responsibility for your own actions. This irrevocable connection is crucial for thriving together in the natural winter landscape. So before we have to regulate, it is up to us to implement the right behavior.

One thing is clear: we can choose where we move. And we move in the habitat of wild animals. They are at home there. We are not. We sleep and eat somewhere else. So just activate your common sense, think like a welcome guest and keep the following in mind:

  • Dusk and dawn are critical times for many wild animal species to feed. So don't be out and about during this time.

  • Just because the headlamps are now shining so brightly doesn't mean it makes sense to be out and about at night. The shadows cast by the cone of light (e.g. in the forest) irritate wild animals and drive them to flee.

  • Any irritation and flight leads to exertion and thus to high calorie consumption. The line between being OK and perishing is very narrow for wild animals in winter. Over a long evolutionary period, they have developed precise, specialized survival strategies. The split board has only recently become part of evolutionary history.

  • An "awww, that's unpleasant" in the face of a fleeing animal is unfortunately of no use to it.

When planning a tour, it is therefore important to pay attention to wildlife rest areas, research whether there are local signs and choose sensible times! We can choose, the wild animals can't.

Ours is not the first track...

Ours is not the first track...

LH

Ours is not the first track...

LH

Speaking of planning: alpenvereinaktiv.com, the web portal and app for tour planning from the three Alpine associations ÖAV, DAV and AVS, is here to help. All important winter wildlife protection zones are marked here and are already visible when selecting or planning tours.

Important measures to take into account the habitats of wild animals are protection zones or closed areas - voluntarily created or prescribed by the authorities. Both have the same purpose: to offer wild animals a retreat free from disturbance. A time-out from us humans, so to speak. Nevertheless, we Alpine associations clearly prefer the former. These voluntary protection zones are set up and managed as part of larger initiatives such as "Bergwelt Tirol - Miteinander erleben" or "Respektiere Deine Grenzen" in consensus with all habitat partners.

Regulated wildlife protection areas, on the other hand, are applied for by the hunting licensee and set up by the authorities to protect red deer and roe deer. Usually in the area of feeding grounds. Unfortunately, the terminology is different in each federal state; in Austria, nine hunting laws apply in nine federal states.

While voluntary protection zones appeal to the personal responsibility of those seeking recreation not to enter them, officially decreed areas are subject to a prohibition of access. This means that these areas may indeed be entered, but only on the official hiking trails, cross-country ski trails or traditional snowshoe and ski touring routes.

Ski track through the wildlife's living room: We can choose where we go in the mountains. The animals are at home here and have priority.

Skiing through the wildlife's living room: We can choose where we go in the mountains. The animals are at home here and have priority.

LH

Skiing through the wildlife's living room: We can choose where we go in the mountains. The animals are at home here and have priority.

LH

Ski touring in particular is all the rage, whether on the slopes or in open terrain. The pandemic has further fueled this trend. Around 550,000 ski touring skins are sold worldwide every year and the touring segment accounts for around 40% of the total product range. More outdoor enthusiasts also means more stress and pressure on nature as a habitat. Hermann Sonntag, GF at Naturpark Karwendel, describes it as follows in an article: "There are so many of us. You have to be careful that nature doesn't get left behind." The measures to look after nature are many and varied - the Austrian Alpine Association's Spatial Planning and Nature Conservation Department has already published several reports on this in the "Snow of Tomorrow" section. You can read more about these here.

Birgit Kantner works in the Spatial Planning and Nature Conservation Department of the Austrian Alpine Club and, as an ecologist, is happy about every wildlife observation.

Georg Rothwangl works in the team at alpenvereinaktiv.com, the Alpine Club's tour portal. As a forester and hunting protection officer, he can scold himself when he's out on a ski tour.

Wildlife protection zones can be displayed as layers on the map.

Wildlife protection zones can be displayed as layers on the map.

Alpenverein Aktiv

Wildlife protection zones can be displayed as layers on the map.

Alpenverein Aktiv

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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