Orchards in the Nature- and Geopark Styrian Eisenwurzen

Associated persons Daniel Zollner
Clients Nature- and Geopark Styrian Eisenwurzen
Regions Austria
Year 2016

Nature parks are valuable landscapes protected and preserved in their present state and promoted for tourism purposes. The Nature- and Geopark Styrian Eisenwurzen is traditionally characterized by extensive orchards. A lot of the old fruit varieties are still the base of the present abundance of fruit species in the Nature Park Eisenwurzen. In the past years, the actors of a leader-project already ensured baseline surveys and built cooperations among local farmers and land owners. The challenges concerning conservation and use of the orchards have increased though. Because of economic reasons, many farmers are going out of business. The present, three-year project will be completed in the context of a national interterritorial leader cooperation project “Preservation of Austrian orchard culture”. The goal is to give new impetus to the sustainable development of the region based on their regional resource. E.C.O. is responsible for the project development, followed by the accompanying project management.