The book “Erinnerungen an Pioniere des Schweizerischen Nationalparks - Memories of Pioneers of the Swiss National Park" is a contribution to the history of the Swiss National Park, in particular the research sector.

Published in autumn 2017, it presents a collection of memories of the first researchers of the Park. These people, considered as pioneers, shaped the research of the National Park; their research still constitutes the basis for further research and project development.

The book has been developed with an oral history approach. It describes the basic living conditions of the researcher throughout the years of the 20th century; it gives insights into the motivation behind the intensive study of nature, and above all shows that behind the research results there are always humans, with their particular personalities, their likes and dislikes.

The book has been published in German only.

For further information click here

Authors: Prof. Dr. Bruno Baur, Dr. Jürg Rohner, Dr. Thomas Scheurer
Publisher: Buchhandlung und Haupt Verlag AG
Edition / Volume: 107
Pages: 163
Language: German

The 23rd Memorial Danilo Re event took place at the Berchtesgaden National park from 25th to 28th January 2018, in the frame of the celebration of the park’s 40th anniversary.

A combination of excellent weather conditions and outstanding involvement by the Berchtesgaden national park staff made this event unforgettable!
Alpine rangers and staff of the protected areas from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and even Slovakia competed in four categories: mountaineering ski, giant slalom, shooting and cross-country, with a total of 46 teams: a record number of participants for the Danilo Re Memorial .

After the traditional parade of the teams, Berchtesgaden National Park Director Dr. Roland Baier, Bavarian Ministry of State for Environment and Consumer Protection, Deputy Minister Dr. Christian Barth, District Administrator of Berchtesgadener Land Georg Grabner, Ramsau Mayor Herbert Gschossmann, ALPARC President Dr. Peter Oggier and Mauro Fissore, Member of the steering committee warmly welcomed the teams and their supporters.

The overall victories for men & mixed teams went to Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso (IT) followed by Nationalpark Hohe Tauern Salzburg (AT) and Nationalpark Berchtesgaden (DE).

Regarding the ladies’ teams the first place went to Nationalpark Hohe Tauern Tirol (AT), the second to Parco Regionale dell'Adamello (IT) and the third to Nationalpark Berchtesgaden (DE).

In addition to the competition, Alpine and transnational friendship was celebrated and participants enjoyed the traditional Bavarian music and dances, Alpine food and Mauro Fissore’s band who played without let-up until 3.30am... what a performance!

Go to the Danilo Re Facebook page to see all the photos of the event
See the detailed results by downloading the document below.

The winners of the 12th international competition “Fotografare il parco” have been announced. This contest was organized by the Stelvio National Park (IT), the Gran Paradiso National Park (IT), Abruzzo, Latinum and Molise National Park (IT) and by the French Vanoise National Park in collaboration with Swarovski Optik Italia.
Once again, the contest registered the great participation of many amateurs as well as professional photographers. More than 350 participants sent about 3,000 pictures from Italy, France and other European countries.
Congratulation to all who took part!

The award ceremony of the twelfth edition will take place on Saturday 24th February at 11 am at Belvedere – Palazzo Lombardia, Piazza Città di Lombardia, Milan.

You can see the list of the winners, the photos and the prizes at: http://www.fotografareilparco.it/en

The ALPARC General Assembly was held in the Haus der Berge at the Berchtesgaden National Park in Bavaria on 26th January 2018 in the presence of the Ambassador and General Secretary of the Alpine Convention, Markus Reiterer, the German Focal Point Person of the Alpine Convention, Silvia Reppe and the representative of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, Simone Remund. The Director of the Liechtenstein Office of Environment, Helmut Kindle, was also present as a member of ALPARC. The members of all the protected areas and of every category were well represented and this enabled the Assembly to validate the reports of the president, the treasurer and the director and to vote the new ALPARC 2018-2019 work programme as well as the budget for 2018

Other important issues debated at the General Assembly concerned the current European programmes. ALPARC is leader of 2 of the 3 current projects: ALPBIONET2030 (ecological network and wildlife management) and YourAlps – (the setting up of a teaching module for schools on the issues facing the Alps and mountains) and partner of GaYA (youth and governance), and the diversification of ALPARC’s actions. The role of ALPARC within the Alpine Convention and the Alpine Macro-regional Strategy was redefined and the complimentarity of the two approaches in some cases, as for example the ecological network, was emphasised.

The members also decided to update the ALPARC communication strategy, to reinforce the cooperation platform in the German Allgäu (Immenstadt) and to explore the possibility of a second regional platform in the south west part of the Alps (a cross-border region between Austria, Italy and Slovenia) in order to be even closer to the territory and the projects being carried out by ALPARC together with its protected area partners.

A big thank you to the Berchtesgaden National Park for holding a very constructive General Assembly whose decisions clearly show that ALPARC is open to new developments and to the reinforcement of shared cooperation for the Alps.

Two national parks have experienced major changes in their highest management unit : in the National park Gran Paradiso, Michele Ottino has already retired while the director of the National Park Kalkalpen Erich Mayrhofer will retire at the end of the year.

Special thanks to Erich Mayrhofer – Director of the Kalkalpen National Park
At the end of the year, Erich Mayrhofer will retire after managing the park for 25 years. It was only recently, in November 2017, that 5,250 hectares of beech forests of the Kalkalpen and 1,965 hectares in the Dürrenstein wilderness reserve were declared as the first Austrian UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Governor Mag. Thomas Stelzer forwarded the certificate to the officials of the Kalkalpen National Park, giving special thanks to Erich Mayrhofer for his long-term professional and personal engagement to promoting the protection and sustainable use of the park. “The Mayrhofer era is a success story” he states. Mayrhofer’s main concern was the promotion of slow tourism, this way raising awareness in different target groups of the sustainable development issues in the protected area.  Mayrhofer will be succeeded by Volkhard Maier who will be in charge of the park from January 2018

Gran Paradiso National Park welcomes its new Director Antonio Mingozzi
Michele Ottino, who had led the park’s activities since 1998, has been succeeded by Prof. Antonio Mingozzi. The new director is Associated Professor of Zoology at the University of Calabria and teaches Ecology at the Veterinary University of Turin. Antonio Mingozzi is looking forward to the new challenge, acknowledging the high levels of responsibility associated with it “This new assignment involves a big mission and I’ll face it with all my energy and competencies .I hope that I’ll succeed in reconciling the issues of conservation and the sustainable use of the nature and culture provided by the treasure of the Gran Paradiso National Park.”

The 1st EUSALP Annual Forum took place on 23-24 November 2017 in Munich. It included a large variety of events and workshops presenting mostly the first results from the Action Groups.
Action Group 7 on ecological connectivity, in which ALPARC is actively involved, also presented its first results. ALPARC contributes to the work of Action Group 7, in particular via the ALBIONET 2030 Interreg project. In this framework a first draft report on “Framework Conditions for a Comprehensive Ecological Connectivity Scheme in the Perimeter and Framework of the Alpine Macro-region” has been drawn up. The report gives a comprehensive overview of the links between the Alps and the Macro-region.

Also during the EUSALP Forum, the teaser of the Interreg GaYA project produced by ALPARC and the project partners, was officially awarded by the Alpine Space programme among two other projects of the Interreg programme.

For further information about the video please read the GaYA article.

On Wednesday 9th December “Sensible”, the new documentary on Alpine fauna, was broadcast on French TV.

We are immediately transported into the reality of Alpine protected areas with the interview of the co-filmmaker, Geoffrey Garcel, Ranger in a natural reserve in Haute-Savoie (ASTERS, FR), followed by other mountain actors.
The film shows the beauty and richness of Alpine fauna while raising awareness about the pressure it is facing. Indeed, this heritage is fragile and we (human beings) can be a source of disturbance. The modification of our natural environment impacts species qualified as “sensible”/sensitive such as ptarmigan and black grouse and can also lead to extinction in the Alps, as in the case of the capercaillie.

So what can we do? A lot of mountain actors are now taking these thematics into account in their daily work, protecting the most exposed areas, particularly in winter. They are also joined by professional athletes such as Sébastien Chagneau, an Ultra-trailer who has made it a priority to respect the wilderness while training and to stick to the hiking tracks.

We all have to remember that Nature is about living together, sharing the environment. We don’t own the mountains; we have the privilege of being guests in Nature’s wilderness and this can come to an end if we are not aware of the issues. So, let’s stop and observe the beauty around us in mutual respect.

Film trailer here

Territorial perspectives in the Alps are subject to change and constantly developing. Thus, the Ammergauer Alpen Region was given Nature Park status while in the Rätikon, the idea of a nature park has been further developed.

A new nature park in Germany
In August 2017 the “Ammergauer Alpen” Region was given “Nature Park”, status, making it one of the 104 nature parks in Germany. According to the objectives set by the Deutsche Naturparke e.V. Association and the network for Europe’s natural and cultural heritage in Europe, EUROPARC, this nature park shall protect and sustainably promote the cultural landscape of the Ammergau. In order to involve interested people, the newly designated park has already launched a first set of guided tours regarding biological and geological topics.

The Rätikon Nature Park Project
The idea of a regional nature park in the Rätikon has been picked up by Prättigau/Davos regional development in order to take advantage of the opportunities for tourism in the Rätikon and create a platform for the development and provision of services. Due to its geographic location and the positive experiences regarding transnational cooperation, it is planned to create an international park by taking it over the border in the direction of Montafon/Walgau in Austria and the principality of Liechtenstein. At present a feasibility study is being carried out focusing on potentials, challenges and citizens’ acceptance in the different regions. The study will be concluded in spring 2019 and pave the way for the eventual foundation of the park.

For further info:

https://www.ammergauer-alpen.de/Naturpark-Ammergauer-Alpen

A challenging mission for the Ecological Network Platform of the Alpine Convention

Members of the Ecological Network Platform of the Alpine Convention met in Valdieri in the Alpi Marittime Nature Park (I) at the beginning of November 2017. At the centre of the discussion was the work on the report commissioned by the Alpine Convention that aims at giving an overview about how aspects of ecological connectivity are currently integrated in spatial planning documents in the Alpine countries. Based on the analysis of a series of case studies, planning documents and expert interviews, the Platform will draft a state of the art report and formulate a number of conclusions that should be presented at the next Alpine Conference. The integration of ecological networks, wildlife corridors and green and blue infrastructure in spatial planning documents is the only sustainable way to insure the conservation of this vital ecological functionality. The report will highlight some examples of good practice and provide the opportunity to start a wider discussion on the topic.  

A study from the laboratory of Alpine Ecology in Grenoble (CNRS) and University of Yale shows that an increase of only 5% in the surface of protected areas would strongly increase the preservation of mammals and bird species.
Since biodiversity is generally evaluated by the number of present species in a specific zone, the scientists added two other components to which it is not frequently referred to: phylogenetical diversity which reflects evolutionary history accumulated by an assemblage of species, and functional diversity which reflects the diversity of life history traits of a population such as feeding. Thanks to algorithms of spatial optimization, the scientists identified priority protection zones in Madagascar, South-East Asia and the Andes.
The results are published in Nature.

For further information please contact:

http://www-leca.ujf-grenoble.fr/le-laboratoire/contact-et-acces/

The French Association Montanea celebrates its 15 years old.
For the occasion Montanea organizes the Conference ( in French):

"Montagne et Media: Le grand malentendu? ” - " Mountain & Media" 

Tuesday 19 December from 17.30 to 19.30 .
Centre de congrès Le Manège
331, rue de la République
73000 Chambéry

For further info: http://www.montanea.org/event/montanea-fete-ses-15-ans/

In the frame of the EU Interreg Alpine Space project GaYA (Governance and Youth in the Alps), 15 pilot sites engage in experimental approaches to involve young people in local politics. Four ALPARC members are participating in the project. Besides, the project already boasts some successful actions: an award-winning project teaser and the participation of young people at the EUSALP Forum on 23rd November.

Over the last months, ALPARC and the seven other GaYA partners have selected 15 pilot sites in which work on pilot activities has started. Supported by the GaYA partnership and accompanied by external experts, a set of first workshops involving decision makers, administrations, youth organisations, youth workers and young people have taken place in the majority of the pilot regions. The aim, in a first step, is to develop local participatory action plans that fix objectives for youth participation in policy-making for the years to come; in a second phase, the pilot groups can implement one action within the GaYA project terms, i.e. until December 2018.

The ALPARC operational unit is responsible for this last project stage in 2018. It also has the task of assisting and supporting the pilot activities in the Baronnies Community of Communes (part of the Baronnies Regional Nature Park, France) and in the Préalpes d’Azur Regional Nature Park (both Southern French Alps). Two other areas of the ALPARC network are involved in the project as pilot sites: the Grosse Walsertal in Austria and the Massif des Bauges Regional Nature Park. Major outputs in 2018 will be a participatory toolkit and political recommendations for the inclusion of young people in all Alpine languages.

GaYA teaser awarded at EUSALP forum
On the occasion of the first annual EUSALP forum on November 23rd in Munich, the GaYA project and its teaser which was produced by ALPARC were awarded by the Alpine Space programme among two other projects. The international political forum also was the occasion for a group of young people to express their opinions before decision-makers from the Alpine region. In order to give youth a voice in the Alps in a creative way, an international film contest has recently been launched by CIPRA. The winners are invited to present their films at the final conference of GaYA on November 30th 2018 in Chambéry (details below).

GaYA runs from November 2016 to February 2019 and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme (Total budget: 1,092,748 € - ERDF grant 928,836€). ALPARC is work package leader in the pilot stage (End 2017-2018).

Further resources
Spread information on and take part in the GaYA film competition. Learn more here.
Watch the GaYA teaser video-clip
Take a look at the GaYA comparative report