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was hold on 2^nd July 2010.

A transnational excursion on the subject of “Revitalization of Alpine Pastures” and “Grazing and Maintenance of Mat-grass Meadows” has been carried out in the scope of the NATREG Carinthia meeting. Additionally to the specific issue, also topics like “Alpine Farming and Biodiversity” and “Alpine Farming and Regional Development” have been raised and discussed. Nature conservation experts from Slovenia and Austria as well as a representative for alpine farming in Carinthia were taking part at this excursion in the heart of the Nationalpark Nockberge. The excursion has been prepared and conducted by DI Norbert Kerschbaumer (Berchtold land.plan).

At the beginning of the excursion the Carinthian Alpine Pasture Inspector DI Barbara Kircher introduced the successful “Program for the Revitalization of Alpine Pastures”. About 450 revitalization projects have been implemented and 2.800 hectares of alpine pasture land reclaimed since the year 2000. The target of the revitalization projects is the re-establishment of lost pasture areas, due to scrub and bush encroachment, into open grazing land. In the scope of the planning and implementation of the projects not only the allocation of forage areas, but also the overall appearance of the landscape and biodiversity issues are being taken into account. What is especially noteworthy about these cultural landscape projects is the fact, that the initiative for the individual projects emanates from the alpine pasture farmers themselves, and that the implementation happens accordingly motivated and accurately.
The next topic on the agenda of the excursion was the grazing and maintenance of mat-grass meadows. For this purpose the participants visited several examples of pastured mat-grass meadows. After the demonstration of the effect of various site-specific habitat factors on the floristic composition, impacts of different grazing management (i.e. stock density, time of stocking) on the biodiversity of nutrient poor grassland on acidic soil have been presented and put up for discussion. The expert excursion, marked by some remarkable interest of the participants, has been finished with a debate on alternative maintenance methods (mowing, flail mowing) and their technical implementation.

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