Landschaftspflegeverein
🌐Works to preserve and restore one of the most species-rich regions in Europe through network building, community involvement, and sustainable grassland management. They connect people and organizations to create a network of natural areas.
Bioregional Context
The Thermenlinie Wiener Becken (Vienna Basin Thermal Line) region is one of the most species-rich regions in Europe, featuring former pasture areas and wetlands. The region's exceptional biodiversity comes from its position between the Alps and the Pannonian lowlands, hosting species from both areas. Grasslands store about 30% of global carbon in biomass.
- Network Affiliation
- Bioregional Weaving Labs
Background
The Thermenlinie Wiener Becken—south of Vienna—is easy to read as sprawl, intensive farms, and busy roads. Under that surface sit major biological hotspots.
The belt is among Europe’s most species-rich landscapes: former pastures such as Bertholdsdorf Heide, Güberheide, and Symposium Linderbrunn, plus scattered wetlands. Alps meet Pannonian lowlands here, so flora and fauna blend alpine and steppic elements.
Many hotspots are grasslands—dry meadows, old pastures, wet meadows, and fens—holding rare and protected species. Dry grasslands are especially rich in flowers and insects; wet or dry, grasslands lock up large soil carbon stocks. Globally, grasslands hold roughly 30% of carbon stored in biomass—important for climate mitigation.
Without large wild grazers (aurochs, wisent long gone), these open habitats now depend on continued human care; left alone, they scrub over and succeed to forest—and much of the open-habitat diversity vanishes.
Origins and Network
Founded June 2017, the Landschaftspflegeverein is a non-profit devoted to long-term biodiversity in the Thermenlinie–Wienerwald–Wiener Becken corridor.
Work began with a practical question: how to manage greenspaces differently from routine frequent mowing—what would be sustainable? The aim is to rekindle local enthusiasm for “nature next door.”
Activities
Network Naturregion Building
Many high-value patches sit isolated—a poor recipe for persistence. “Orphan” greens—verges, corporate lawns, small parks—can still host diversity if managed intentionally. The association coordinates Network Naturregion: people networking places—municipalities, schools, kindergartens, clubs, students, farmers, hunters, firms, and staff—so fragments link into something closer to a functional habitat network.
Nature Tours and Experiences
Public programmes lean on direct experience: guided day walks and night walks where moths, beetles, bats, and other nocturnal life appear; festival stalls introduce the association’s work in plain sight. Feeling attachment to local biodiversity, participants are more willing to volunteer labour for upkeep. Night tours underline that diversity runs on a 24-hour clock, not only daylight hours.
School Education Programs
With Enzesfeld elementary, educators start young: children map what lives nearby, then join maintenance sessions and learn that habitats need ongoing care—nothing stewards itself. The theory is that adults who grow up tending places will later invest time in communal goals.
Sustainable Grassland Management
Open habitats cannot be sustained with uniform, industrial mowing. Historically, mosaic grazing and scythe work moved slowly across small parcels—patterns that modern large-field management erases along with specialist species. Bringing animals, shepherds, and patchwise grazing back is central. The team advises and trains farmers on these methods. Reception has shifted from scepticism to curiosity: neighbours now seek them out, reporting clear gains in visible biodiversity.
Vision and Legacy
Network Naturregion keeps widening—people and parcels woven together. Modest changes such as less frequent mowing have already yielded plant and insect assemblages many residents no longer recognise from childhood.
Grasslands remain carbon-rich and biologically extraordinary; maintaining the mosaic still depends on many hands—volunteers, educators, farmers, and public partners sharing the load.
Sources
| Type | Name | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Video | Bioregional Weaving Lab - Thermenlinie Wiener Becken (Austria) | ↗ |