Management tasks

Natural environment management

"Nothing touches us like the untouched” is the motto of the country's national parks. Why then is there a need for "natural area management”? Isn't that a contradiction?
The more inaccessible slopes and gorges of the Thaya Valley are in a very pristine state. In many other areas, however, farm animals grazed, meadows were mown or wood was cut from the forest before the national park was established. The construction of a hydropower plant in the Czech Republic also meant drastic changes for the Thaya.
This is exactly where natural area management comes in. The aim is to achieve improvements in ecological status and a gradual approximation of the natural state. The measures taken so far have resulted, for example, in brown trout spawning again and original tree species being able to thrive once more, in the biodiversity of the meadows being preserved and in visitors being able to experience the magic of the untouched countryside all around them on the designated hiking trails.

Forest management

Spruces and Douglas firs do not fit climatically into the Thayatal, yet they were planted and used for forestry in some places before the national park was founded. That's over now. Today, those species that occur naturally in the Thayatal and are perfectly adapted to the prevailing conditions are thriving again in their place.

Learn more

Meadows and dry grasslands

An abundance of flowering plants and insect species thrive among the meadows and dry grasslands of the Green Canyon. But very few people know that some of these treasures are ephemeral if humans do not intervene with care. Mowing is therefore carried out once or twice a year to maintain the meadow habitat.

Learn more

Wild animal management

It is important to keep a close eye on the wildlife population in order to preserve the natural wildlife and its habitat over the long term. This is because large predators such as wolves and lynx are absent from the native ecosystems. In the Thayatal National Park, for example, wild boar contribute to natural regeneration, but only as long as their population does not get out of hand. Targeted controls are therefore necessary on a few days each year.

Learn more

Neophyte management

Neophytes are all those plants that were introduced after the discovery of America in 1492. Most of them enrich our biodiversity, but a few are actually a problem. There are currently four of these plant species in the Thayatal National Park. Our field staff keep an eye on them and fight their spread using targeted methods.

Learn more

Waterway management

The influence of the Czech hydropower plants, which were established long before the foundation of the protected area, is clearly noticeable on the Thaya. The declared aim of the Thayatal National Park is to improve the ecological situation of the river and to establish fish stock that can live and thrive under the given conditions.

Learn more