Gesaeuse National Park | About us

Overview

The Nationalpark Gesaeuse was the sixth Austrian national park to be established and is the third largest. It is located in the area of the Ennstal Alps/Gesaeuse and, broadly speaking, embraces two massifs: the Buchsteinmassiv and the Hochtorgruppe.

Total area of the National park:	11,054 hectares
	Natural Zone: 86 %
	Protected Zone: 14 %

Foundation: 26th October 2002

Sea level: 490 m to 2,370 m (altitude difference 1880 m)

Highest elevation: Hochtor 2,370 m

Geology:

Northern Limestone Alps, most common types of rocks: Dachstein limestone, Ramsau dolomite.

Natural Area:	Alpine areas 31%
	Scrub-land 13.5%
	Woodland 50%
	Open water 0.5%
	High pasture, meadow 5%

Ownership (by proportion):
	99.3% Land Steiermark - Styria (Stmk Landesforste - Styrian Provincial forestry Commission)
	0.5% open-access stretches of water
	0.2% private landowners

National Park municipalities:
	Johnsbach 51%
	Weng 30%
	Admont 7%
	Landl 6.5%
	Hieflau 4.5%
	St.Gallen 1 %

Adjacent and Overlapping Protected Areas:	Eisenwurzen Nature Park	9% within the National Park boundaries
	Natura 2000 Flaeche:	94% within the National Park boundaries

Please click here to open an enlargement of the overview map in a new window (96 KB).

The National Park Gesaeuse

The Nationalpark Gesaeuse is a breathtakingly beautiful landscape. It took long years of struggle before it could be protected to its full extent and in unspoilt condition. Now, as a National Park, it is preserved for future generations.

The Nationalpark Gesaeuse includes both the 'Gesaeuse' itself, that is the torrential white-water Enns river with its monumental resurgence valley between Admont and Hieflau and the surrounding 'Gesaeuse mountains'. This deeply-fissured, high mountain range is spectacularly radiant because of the colour of the limestone and its steep exposed ridges. They rise above the dark valley bed of the Enns offering a scene of true grandeur.

Autumnal view of the entrance to the Gesaeuse valley

A number of factors have been decisive in allowing the Nationalpark Gesaeuse to establish an international reputation for this exceptional landscape since its foundation on 26th October 2002: its largely untouched forest, its unique natural dynamic, its mountain ranges that remain for the most part in their pristine natural condition, as well as its great variety of the flora and fauna.

There is one particular woodland biotope that you can only find in this Styrian National Park, with its overwhelmingly unspoilt, primeval woodlands, wetlands and pasture forests. Its future preservation has to be guaranteed.

Besides the protection of the virgin landscape, a high priority target is to promote environmentally relevant values and to sensitise visitors to the motivating ethos of the National Park's work, namely, the protection of nature in accordance with the highest standards and principles.

The range of school and summer programmes that we offer reflects the variety in the Park's landscape, its flora and the fauna and its history and culture. We endeavour to make the Gesaeuse National Park a place of adventure for our guests. In the process, emphasis is placed upon raising awareness, and upon the explanation, demonstration and observation of natural processes, making every single visit to the National Park an unforgettable experience!