The German word Aue (variant Au) means "river island, wetland, floodplain, riparian woodland", i.e. a cultivated landscape in a riparian zone. The words Aue and Au occur in a large number of German place names—including Donau, the German word for the Danube River—and refer to forests, meadows, and wetlands in river and stream lowlands and floodplains. The Danube-Auen National Park protects a large area of lowland forests, meadows, wetlands, and other riparian habitat along the Danube just downstream of Vienna.
Until the 19th century the Danube was an untamed river. In the 19th century, extensive engineering began to alter the natural balance of the river landscape dramatically. Many side-channels were dammed so that they now carry water from the Danube only at flood stages. Ever more intrusive engineering interventions were accompanied by decades of heavy forestry use in many parts of lowland forests. In the 1950s, development began of a nearly unbroken chain of hydroelectric power plants and associated dams on the Austrian section of the Danube River.
In 1984, the planned construction of the Hainburg hydroelectric power plant, just downstream from Vienna, threatened to destry one of two remaining free-flowing sections of the Danube in Austria and its riparian forests (the other remaining free-flowing section in Austria is upstream, near Wachau). An outcry by environmental and nature protection groups caused nationwide protests against the project. The operator of the power plant project disregarded the protests and began work to clear the area. Protests stepped up, eventually leading to the occupation of the Hainburg wetlands by thousands of people from all ages and professions (the so-called "Hainburg Movement"). After police tried several times to clear protestors from the area, in December 1984 the Federal Government declared a pause for reflection. In January 1985 the Austrian Supreme Court forbad further deforestation. In March 1985, the so-called Konrad Lorenz-Volksbegehren (petition), signed by 353,906 people, demanded the prohibition of large power plants such as Hainburg and the establishment of a national park in the area of Hainburg. On 1 July 1986, the Administrative Court released a decision cancelling the water rights of the planned power plant.
Extensive scientific studies were then made of the area, with surprising discoveries. More species of fish were observed than was known at the time the planning of the power plant.
The most important result of these studies was that the Danube lowlands area (Donau-Auen) in and east of Vienna was determined to be worthy of becoming a national park. It was also determined that creating a power plant in the area would not be compatible with national park status for the region. On October 27, 1996, a State Treaty between the Republic of Austria and the federal states of Vienna and Lower Austria was signed. With that treaty, Donau-Auen National Park was officially opened.
With the variety of insects living on both land and water, and other invertebrates, the total number of species in Donau-Auen National Park is estimated to be at least 5,000.
The main channel of the Danube was separated from its side channels by the flood control measures that were constructed around the year 1900. The outcome was a higher current velocity in the main channel, with a resulting deepening of the river bed, while in the side channels—which no longer had current flowing through them—sand and loam deposits were no longer removed by the current. In a natural riparian ecosystem woody plants and deadwood have a strong impact on the natural flow dynamics, by stabilizing riverbanks, by reducing erosion, and by creating areas of reducing or increased flow rates, and thus affecting in which areas sediments are deposited or removed. Large tree trunks and accumulations of smaller flotsam cause the water to stagnate and the speed of the current to drop, leading to increased sedimentation.
To counteract the effects of the flood control measures, beginning in 2002 individual side channels were tied in with the main channel again—at least at high water times—via Gewässervernetzungen ("water crossings"), which lower or remove the levees protecting those channels.
In a 2006 pilot project created with the support of the LIFE+ Program of the European Union and the Austrian riverways agency via donau, about three kilometers of the complete flood works were removed across the river from Hainburg, so that the river once again could spread into the floodplain areas. In a similar project near Witzelsdorf, about one kilometer of the levees were removed. After the completion of the pilot projects in Hainburg and Witzelsdorf, future plans for this river engineering project are for removal of 50% of the levees and flood control works between Vienna and the eastern border of Austria.
Aside from a revitalization of the Au (riparian zone), the project promises to mediate the effects of floods on the river and to stabilize the riverbed to the benefit of both river ecology and navigation.[1]
The flowers of the very endangered early spider-orchid imitate the female sand bee, and so entice the male bees to land and thus pollinate the plants[2]
1 2 3 4 5 6 Manfred A. Fischer, Karl Oswald, Wolfgang Adler: Exkursionsflora für Österreich, Liechtenstein und Südtirol. 3., verbesserte Auflage. Land Oberösterreich, Biologiezentrum der Oberösterreichischen Landesmuseen, Linz 2008, ISBN978-3-85474-187-9.
The Lobau is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube in Donaustadt and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used as a recreational area and is known as a site of nudism. There is also an oil harbour, and the Austrian Army used the Lobau as a training ground. In addition to the water coming from the Alps through the Wiener Hochquellenwasserleitung, the Lobau is a source of groundwater for Vienna.
The Morava is a river in Central Europe, a left tributary of the Danube. It is the main river of Moravia, which derives its name from it. The river originates on the Králický Sněžník mountain in the north-eastern corner of Pardubice Region, near the border between the Czech Republic and Poland and has a vaguely southward trajectory. The lower part of the river's course forms the border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia and then between Austria and Slovakia.
Hainburg an der Donau is a town in the Bruck an der Leitha district, Lower Austria, Austria.
The Yolo Bypass is one of the two flood bypasses in California's Sacramento Valley located in Yolo and Solano Counties. Through a system of weirs, the bypass diverts floodwaters from the Sacramento River away from the state's capital city of Sacramento and other nearby riverside communities.
The Donauinsel is a long, narrow artificial island in central Vienna, Austria, lying between the Danube river and the parallel excavated channel Neue Donau. The island is 21.1 km (13.1 mi) in length, but is only 70–210 m (230–689 ft) wide. The New Danube waterway is practically an elongated (swimming) lake, technically a diluvian bed. It has been described as an "autobahn for swimmers", due to the number of people in Vienna who own amphibious cars.
Donaustadt is the 22nd district of Vienna, Austria . Donaustadt is the eastern district of Vienna.
The Danube–Oder Canal is a planned and partially constructed artificial waterway in the Lobau floodplain of the Danube at Vienna, that was supposed to stretch along the Morava River to the Oder at the city of Kędzierzyn-Koźle in Poland.
Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, until 1928 Deutsch-Altenburg is a market town and spa in the district of Bruck an der Leitha in Lower Austria in Austria.
Groß-Enzersdorf is a town and municipality in the district of Gänserndorf in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, directly to the east of Vienna and north of the river Danube. Apart from the town itself, it also comprises 7 subordinated municipalities.
Záhorie Protected Landscape Area is the first lowland protected landscape area in Slovakia. It is located in the non-administrative Záhorie Region in West Slovakia. The Landscape Area protects 275.22 km² (106.26 mi²) and is divided into two separate parts – western and north-eastern. The western part starts near the village of Kúty in the north, follows the borders between Slovakia and Austria alongside the Morava River and ends near Stupava in the south. The north-eastern part is bordered by the Military District of Záhorie in the east and south.
Dunajské luhy Protected Landscape Area is one of the youngest of the 14 protected landscape areas in Slovakia. The Landscape Area consists of five separate parts in the Danube Lowland, stretching from Bratislava in the north west, following the Danube and the borders between Slovakia and Hungary to a river island called Veľkolélsky ostrov in Komárno District. The biggest part is Žitný ostrov, the largest river island in Europe.
Gornje Podunavlje Special Nature Reserve is a large protected area of wetland in the northwest of Serbia, on the Danube's left bank. It comprises two large marshes, Monoštorski Rit and Apatinski Rit and vast forests, meadows, ponds, swamps and the Danube's meanders, including 66 km (41 mi) of the Danube course. It is a part of the trans-boundary biosphere reserve "Mura-Drava-Danube", a five country project, dubbed the "Amazon of Europe".
The Vienna Danube regulation refers to extensive flood-control engineering along the Danube river in Vienna, Austria during the last 150 years. The first major dams or levees were built during 1870-75. Another major project was constructed during 1972-88, which created the New Danube and Danube Island (Donauinsel). Prior to regulation, the Danube in Vienna had been an 8-kilometre (5 mi) wide wetlands, as a patchwork of numerous streams meandering through the area.
The Danube is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for 2,850 km (1,770 mi), passing through or bordering Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine before draining into the Black Sea. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries. The largest cities on the river are Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bratislava, all of which are the capitals of their respective countries. The Danube passes through four capital cities, more than any other river in the world. Five more capital cities lie in the Danube's basin: Bucharest, Sofia, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo. The fourth-largest city in its basin is Munich, the capital of Bavaria, standing on the Isar River.
For a long time, it was not necessary to build a Harbour in Vienna, because the existing natural landing points were sufficient for the level of trade on the Danube. It was only when steamships began to arrive in great numbers that a harbour offering safe berths became essential. Even then however, goods were for the most part loaded and unloaded at an unenclosed river harbour that was established at the end of the 19th century.
Riparian-zone restoration is the ecological restoration of riparian-zonehabitats of streams, rivers, springs, lakes, floodplains, and other hydrologic ecologies. A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth; the habitats of plant and animal communities along the margins and river banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by Aquatic plants and animals that favor them. Riparian zones are significant in ecology, environmental management, and civil engineering because of their role in soil conservation, their habitat biodiversity, and the influence they have on fauna and aquatic ecosystems, including grassland, woodland, wetland or sub-surface features such as water tables. In some regions the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, or riparian strip are used to characterize a riparian zone.
The New Danube is a side channel built in 1972–88 on the eastern side of the Danube in Vienna, Austria. It was created to provide flood relief by containing excess water. The Donauinsel, made out of the removed material, separates the new waterway from the main channel of the river. The project was referred to by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) as "the first truly multipurpose fully sustainable flood protection scheme."
The Donauried is a river landscape around the Danube in western Bavaria between Neu-Ulm and Donauwörth. Water meadow woods dominate the scene from Ulm to Lauingen. In addition, the man-made reservoirs near Faimingen, the Swabian Donaumoos between Ulm and Gundelfingen as well as the Gundelfingen park landscape in this wetland region of the Danube are of international importance under to the Ramsar Convention, the international treaty on wetlands. Birds, amphibians, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, crickets and butterflies have their habitats in the fens. Several species of plant native to the Donauried are classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List and reserves like the Apfelwörth or Eastern Donauried Bird Reserve have been established to protect the variety of species. A particular success in recent years has been the recolonisation by the white stork.
The Occupation of the Hainburger Au wetlands in December 1984 marked a turning point for environmental awareness in German speaking central Europe and was of great significance for the development of democratic processes in Austria.
The Mississippi Alluvial Plain is a Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in seven U.S. states, though predominantly in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It parallels the Mississippi River from the Midwestern United States to the Gulf of Mexico.
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