Save the date!

„The Wolf in the alpine cultural landscape – chances and challenges”

(„Der Wolf in der alpinen Kulturlandschaft – Chancen und Herausforderungen“)


16 – 18 May 2017 in Sölk, Sölktäler Nature Park (Styria – Austria)


16th of May - Exhibition “The comeback of the wolf” in the castle of Großsölk
17th of May – Conference Day and public event
18th of May – Workshops and excursion


The meeting allows an exchange between experts of the alpine countries and the alpine protected areas concerning current experiences on the management of the wolf.

A detailed programme will follow soon.

Please reserve the date for your participation !

Martedì 7 febbraio 2017 alle ore 15.30 presso l'Aula Magna dell'Università della Montagna a Edolo, Alessandro Meinardi - Direttore Parco dello Stelvio - Lombardia - terrà il seminario "Il Parco Nazionale dello Stelvio come volano di sviluppo del territorio?".



More info at  http://www.unimontagna.it/en

This 2017 leaflet presents the ALPARC network, values and fields of work. 

"The Alps in my backpack” a multifunctional pedagogical tool for activities linked to the Alps, mountain heritage and protected alpine areas is available for you! 

“The Alps in my backpack” is a big sheet, measuring 240 x 150 cm and printed on a durable fabric. It shows the map of the Alps and all their principal protected nature reserves. Moreover, it presents the diversity of Alpine landscapes, emblematic species, the creation of the Alps, cultural and linguistic diversity, and current issues in the Alpine territory.
The tool has been created collectively by members of the “Mountain environmental education in Alpine protected areas” working group, which had long wanted to benefit from a simple and practical shared tool during their activities, for addressing alpine issues in their global dimension, beyond the usual boundaries.

As part of the 2017 edition of “Youth at the top”, rangers, animators and educators will be invited to use(s) the “Alps in my backpack” tool.

Please notice that 3 copies of the “Alps in my backpack"  tool are available for free for all the ALPARC members.

To obtain one or more copies of this tool, please contact info [at] alparc.org


Coordination: ALPARC
Concept and content: ALPARC and  Mountain Environmental Education working group
Cartographic data: SIG ALPARC 2016
Graphic design: Régis Ferré

Co-financed by the German Ministry for the Environment and the Principality of Monaco

The fifth General Assembly was held on January 27 2017 in Admont, traditionally within the context of the yearly Memorial Danilo Re (22nd edition) which took place in the Gesäuse National park (AT). The Memorial and General Assembly coincided with the 15th anniversary of the Gesäuse national park and with the start of the Alpine Convention presidency for Austria.

23 of the network’s members were present at the assembly, which validated the official reports of the president, treasurer and director for 2016. The members agreed that 2016 was a very successful year for Alparc, notably with the assignment of three Interreg Alpine Space projects. You can read the full 2016 activity report here in all Alpine languages.

The 2017 General Assembly elected as well a new Alparc board and council. Michael Vogel was designated Alparc interim president until July 2017 in order to prepare the mission of a new president. Therefore, and in recognition of his long-lasting efforts and merits for ALPARC, the General Assembly appointed him Honorary President of Alparc. ALPARC is particularly grateful to the outgoing board and council members for their efforts and work during their mandates. We warmly welcome the new members of the ALPARC board and council and look forward to a good and fruitful collaboration in the next four years. You find a list of the newly elected board and council below.

The General Assembly also agreed on a 4-year pilot project for a more decentralized management of the ALPARC activities, with a first support platform in the Nagelfluhkette nature park. This step should reinforce the links to smaller protected area management structures and use synergies with the Alliance in the Alps network of municipalities (AIDA).

The accomplishment of the 2016-2017 working programme is well advanced. In 2017, the activities of the Alparc coordination unit will focus on project implementation, especially on AlpBioNet2030 (lead partner, Interreg Alpine Space), YourAlps (lead partner, Interreg Alpine Space), GaYA (partner, Interreg Apine Space) and the projects GreenConnect, Youth at the Top and WeWild.

ALPARC Board (2017- 2021)

Interim-president                           Michael Vogel, Director Berchtesgaden National park (DE)

Vice president                               Christian Schwoehrer, Director ASTERS (FR)

Vice president                               Paolo Salsotto, President Regional park Alpi Marittime (IT)

Secretary General                         Peter Oggier, Director Pfyn-Finges Regional nature park (CH)

Treasurer                                       Peter Rupitsch, Director Hohe Tauern National park (Carinthia, AT)

ALPARC Council  (2017- 2021)

FRANCE (4 seats + 2 seats for the financing member regions)

-          Christian Schwoehrer (ASTERS)

-          Pierre Commenville (Les Ecrins, NP)

-          Gilberte Bremond (Les Baronnies provençales, PNR)

-          Eva Aliacar (Vanoise, NP)
 
-          Marc Joanny (Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur)

-          Geneviève Borodine – sous réserve - (Région Auvergne Rhône-Alpes)

ITALY (4 seats)

-          Andrea Bertrame (President, Prealpe Giulie, NatP)

-          Claudio La Ragione (Orobie Valtelinesi, NatP)

-          Maria Margareth Pallhuber (Naturparks Alto Adige)

-          Paolo Salsotto (President, Alpi Marittime, NatP)

AUSTRIA (3 seats)

-          Erich Mayrhofer (Kalkalpen, NP)

-          Peter Rupitsch (Hohe Tauern, NP)

-          Franz Handler (VNÖ – Federation of Austrian Nature Parks)

SWITZERLAND (2 seats)

-          Peter Oggier (Pfyn-Finges, NatP)

-          Christian Stauffer (Network Swiss Parks)

SLOVENIA (1 seat)

-          Andre Arih (Triglav, NP)

GERMANY (1 seat)

-          Michael Vogel (ad-interim, Berchtesgaden, NP)

Liechtenstein (1 seat)

-          Helmut Kindle (Ministry)

Monaco (1 seat)

-          Astrid Claudel-Rusin (Ministry)

ALPARC Staff

-          Dominik Cremer-Schulte

During our international workshop “Wildlife and winter sport activities” in the Bauges regional nature park in March 2016, the participants have expressed a strong wish to elaborate a common communication strategy. In the frame of the project WeWild - We respect Alpine wildlife -, ALPARC aims at developing – for the protected areas of the Alps –a joint communication strategy and awareness-raising tools in order to reduce the impact of winter sport practitioners on wildlife in the Alps. The aim of the project is to send out a joint awareness-raising message to winter outdoor practitioners in the Alps in order to give greater momentum to local and regional initiatives.

Alparc coordinates the project and pursues a participatory approach, involving protected area staff and other stakeholders. A first workshop will take place in March 23 and 24 in Vorarlberg (AT). The aim of this first meeting is share experiences in awareness-raising campaigns and to elaborate the contents of the joint strategy (see programme attached). A second workshop will take place in November 2017 in the Italian Alps (to be confirmed). The workshop is open to experts from the Alpine protected areas and other stakeholders, such as Alpine clubs, environmental NGOs and regional governments.

The project will also develop awareness-raising tools that are free to use and share (available from January 2018). The project will use partnerships with the private sector, festivals and sporting events to disseminate the tools and to implement the communication strategy in the medium run. A final conference in November 2018 will bring further momentum to our initiative, presenting the results and gathering a large number of Alpine stakeholders around the topic.

The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUB). For more information and in order to register for the workshop, please contact us directly.

ALPARC project coordinator: Dominik Cremer-Schulte | dominik.cremer-schulte@alparc.org
Website: www.alparc.org/wewild

A shared observation: there is a lack of contact between young people and the Alps

Worldwide, specialists diagnose a lack of contact from young people to their living space. Among Alpine youth, it leads also to the dying out of Alpine identity and mountain-related know-how. The young people of the Alps, among whom there is little awareness of the values and opportunities offered by the natural and cultural heritage of the Alps, are finding it difficult to settle in mountain areas on a long-term basis.
There is therefore unquestionably an urgent need for young people to be better informed and made more aware of their Alpine heritage, including of what it can offer them in terms of economic and social opportunities.

YOUrALPS tackles the challenge to raise Youth awareness on Alpine heritage

The aims of the INTERREG Alpine Space YOUrALPS project (2016-2019) are to give structure to the field of mountain education throughout the Alps and incorporate the values and knowledge of mountains and the Alps more fully in practices but also in educational curricula and syllabuses.
YOUrALPS includes several actions. It’s about identifying, interconnecting and involving the various players scattered over the Alpine territory in a transalpine network which will promote exchanges, synergies and cooperation in this field. A participative webplatform will be one of the tools of this network.
An analysis of the experiences and good practices in mountain environment education throughout the Alps, (including an in-depth study of the political strategies of each country in this field) will be presented in a comparative report. It will include recommendations and will be distributed among the decision-makers of each country. Thanks to exchanges, training, workshops and trials in pilot sites it will be possible to create an "Alpine school model". The model will also be completed by a toolbox of teaching resources linked to Alpine heritage.

The project has direct and long-term impacts

The Alpine School model will directly benefit the students, educators and decision-makers involved, as well as the future generations of pupils. Decision makers will have at their disposal a transferable model. YOUrALPS will create new opportunities for youth and increase their empowerment and engagement in the Alpine territory, to better shape their future.

January 2017 – The project is launched

On 18th and 19th January, the kick-off meeting brought together in Chambéry (Fr) 41 participants, coming from 6 Alpine countries (13 project partners, 25 observers and the representatives of the Alpine Space programme).
Thanks to this meeting the partners were able to get to know each other better and to appropriate the general context of the YOUrALPS project and the Alpine Space programme. A workshop was held on this occasion to build common references on mountain education. Two other working periods resulted in the laying down of the basis for a future international network and the webplatform associated with it. The atmosphere was warm and constructive, a good foundation for this ambitious 3-year project.
The next Project  Steering Committee meeting is planned for July in Slovenia.

The YOUrALPS Project is financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)  Interreg – Alpine Space programme  

The 13 project partners

The 2017 edition of the international Memorial Danilo Re, the official games for Alpine protected area rangers and protected area staff, took place from January 26 to 28 in the Gesäuse National park in Styria (Austria). In fairy tale-like winter conditions, more than 150 participants from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Slovenia competed in four disciplines in the small sport resort of Kaiserau close to Admont. As every year, the event also was the occasion for rangers, park staff and directors to meet, exchange and network.

Memorial Danilo Re as good start for the Austrian presidency of the Alpine Convention
After the traditional parade of the teams accompanied by torch light and traditional Styrian music through the streets of Admont, the Secretary General of the Alpine Convention Markus Reiterer, in the name of the Alpine states, warmly welcomed the 36 teams and their supporters. For Austria, which took over the presidency of the Alpine Convention in October 2016, Günter Liebel of the Federal Ministry for the Environment highlighted the radiant character of the event for the start of the presidency period. Both officials underlined the importance of the Memorial Danilo Re as unique and connecting event in the Alps, that perfectly communicates the joint efforts to preserve this valuable natural and cultural space that are the Alps to the greater public.

Platform for exchange: seminar on the nature interpretation approach
The Memorial Danilo Re has for years provided an optimal platform for the exchange of those employees from the Alpine protected areas who are responsible for monitoring, education and knowledge transfer. A broad professional task field, which is not only challenging, but also vital to man and nature. Within the framework of the memorial, expertise, exchange and dialogue are combined and bundled. This year, the focus of the seminar laid on a contemporary education and knowledge transfer method, the nature interpretation approach.

The Danilo Re Trophy: overall victories for Germany (men) and Austria (women)
Giant slalom, cross-country skiing and shooting - these are not only the disciplines that form the core of Olympic winter games, but also precisely the sports - supplemented by ski mountaineering - within which the participants were able to compete. Similar to the Olympic spirit, participation and joy stood in the foreground of the games, which offered a challenge for all.

The overall victory went to Nationalpark Berchtesgaden (DE, Team 2), followed by Parc Naziunal Svizzer (CH, Team 1) and the mixed team Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso (IT)/Parc National de la Vanoise (FR). For the ladies, Nationalpark Hohe Tauern (AT, Team 2) was able to defend its title ahead of Nationalpark Berchtesgaden (DE, Team 1) and Parco dell’ Adamello (IT, Team 2). The team from Berchtesgaden is therefore well prepared for the 23rd edition of the Danilo Re Trophy in 2018, which will take place in their National Park.

A big thank you to all the 36 teams who took part in this 22nd edition, and special thanks to the team of the Nationalpark Gesäuse and the other local organizers for making the event happen in perfect conditions. See you all, hopefully, in Berchtesgaden (DE) in January 2018.

Click here to see the photos of the event

See the detailed results by downloading the document below.

Source: The text is partly based on the press release (German) of the Nationalpark Gesäuse(30/01/2017) available below

The 22st Edition of the Memorial Danilo Re will take place from the 26th to the 29th of January 2017, in Admont, Austria. The event is organized by the Gesäuse National Park. As usual, within the framework of the Memorial, the ALPARC General Assembly will be held the 27th of January 2017.

Organize your team, start to train and see you in Admont for the Trophy of the Alpine Protected Areas!

For further information & registration : http://www.alparc.org/danilore/index.php/en/

Enregistrer

MEMORIAL Danilo Re

The 23rd Edition of the “Danilo Re Memorial” will take place January 25th to 28th 2018 in Berchtesgaden National Park (DE) which at the same time is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Happy anniversary Berchtesgaden National Park !

ALPARC General Assembly 2018   

As usual the General Assembly of ALPARC will meet during the Danilo Re Memorial, on January 26th, 2018.  All the ALPARC members are kindly invited to participate.

For further information, please check the Memorial Danilo Re website

YOUrALPS Kick-off Meeting will take place the 18th and 19th January 2017 in Chambéry (France), gathering Partners and Observers.