The history of the Nature Park

In 1968, on the initiative of the then town gardener Josef Elsinger (1923-1998), the municipality of Purkersdorf set up a nature trail along the Wien River to a forest playground in Deutschwald, a well-maintained forest path that was very popular with the local population and many Wienerwald hikers. Wooden plaques with the names of the trees and bushes were placed along the path, as well as ceramic plaques with colourful depictions of flowers, insects and mushrooms, made by the Viennese artist Anni Eisenmenger. A second section, which leads past the game enclosures and around the Schöffelstein back to the Kellerwiese, was added a year later, along this section Alfred Czernoch (then a KPÖ local councillor and finance director of the municipality as well as brother-in-law of Josef Elsinger) set up a geological exhibition. 

In spring 1971, a 32-page guide to the nature trail was published with brief details of the individual natural objects to be seen on the nature trail.

In 1974, the municipality had the ‘Wienerwaldhaus’ wooden building erected in Deutschwald as an ‘information centre’, which the then director of the local history museum (and later city mayor) Franz Matzka set up a branch of the local history museum offering information about the history of the Wienerwald, from the medieval Teutonic Order to the Imperial Forest Office and the Wienerwald farmers to the famous Josef Schöffel. 

Official establishment of the Nature Park on the "Tag des Waldes 1975" 

With the support of the then Provincial Nature Conservation Councillor Hans Czettel, the entire area of the Purkersdorf municipal forest plus some peripheral zones was finally declared a ‘Sandsteinwienerwald Nature Park’ and opened on 26 April 1975 (the then Austrian Day of the Forest) by Governor Andreas Maurer. The ‘Naturpark Purkersdorf Sandsteinwienerwald’ association was established as the legal entity of the nature park. City gardener Elsinger, on whose fundamental preliminary work and ideas the nature park was built, was awarded the Silver Medal of Merit of the Province of Lower Austria for his services in the same year, after which the Province of Lower Austria awarded him the Josef Schöffel Promotion Prize in 1985 and the Lower Austrian Nature Park Decoration of Honour in 1995.

The founding chairman of the nature park association and then deputy mayor Dr Kurt Schlintner (1927-2020) quickly and courageously pushed ahead with the expansion of the nature park: after the municipality had already set up a deer enclosure as a special attraction in 1975, a wild boar enclosure and a pheasant aviary were built in 1976 with funding from the state of Lower Austria, as well as the Säckinger footbridge over the Wien River as a new access point from the town centre and the railway stations. And in 1978, the 27 metre high viewing platform on the Rudolfshöhe was erected as a landmark visible from afar, offering a wide view over Vienna and the Wienerwald as far as the foothills of the Alps. These important investments were largely funded by the province of Lower Austria and the municipality.

From 1980, the nature park was extended with the domestic animal enclosures (with sheep, goats, donkeys and ponies) on the Kellerwiese; in 1986, the nature park bridge was built over the B44 to allow easy and safe access from the railway station.

The nature park soon became a popular excursion destination for the population of the greater Vienna area, especially due to its easy and quick accessibility by S-Bahn. 

At the beginning of 2000, Dr Rudolf Orthofer, then councillor for the environment, took over the management of the nature park and, with Gabriela Orosel as programme coordinator, initiated a step towards the professionalisation of nature park management. This soon made it possible to acquire third-party funding projects with which the Nature Park could be further expanded. 

The focus of further development was on the content on offer, particularly on the subject of ‘education’, as schools and other educational institutions have shown an increasing interest in good forest education. The close coordination of the programme with the Sparbach Nature Park proved equally fruitful. 

From 2004, in cooperation with the Institute of Folklore at the University of Vienna, the Wienerwaldhaus information centre was converted into an experience space about the life of former Wienerwald farmers, the pheasant aviary, which was no longer suitable for the species, was converted into a wood laboratory for inquisitive pupils and two interactive water experience stations were set up along the Wien River. The nature trail was extended with a children's adventure trail, where the green woodpecker SAWI - the newly introduced nature park mascot - accompanies children on an exciting knowledge quiz. Many of these investments were funded by the EU's ‘Rural Development’ programme.  

"Der sinnliche Naturpark" 

In 2005, part of the nature trail was remodelled so that people with visual impairments could have an intensive experience of nature. This has shown that people with good eyesight also benefit when they have the opportunity to experience nature with senses other than sight alone. This realisation has opened our eyes to how important it is for our visitors to be able to experience nature ‘with all their senses’ and to become more aware of personally experiencing nature conservation through the sensory discovery of nature. The Purkersdorf Nature Park has thus created a unique position for itself in Lower Austria.  

Shortly afterwards, the official name of the nature park was changed from ‘Naturpark Sandsteinwienerwald’ to ‘Naturpark Purkersdorf’ so that, on the one hand, the location and findability of the nature park is clear to visitors at all times and, on the other hand, the local anchoring in the consciousness of the population is strengthened and a mental link between the town of Purkersdorf and closeness to nature is established. 

From around 2010, the nature park started a nature conservation education initiative with the help of EU funding, with which new nature trails were built, a generational forest was planted together with pupils from Purkersdorf schools, a forest biotope was created and insect hotels were built; in addition, a wooden platform with a view of the renewable forest and a natural history information system for children were set up. In addition, the ‘Purkersdorf Nature Park’ brand was made more visible with an adapted external image (banners, beach flags, folders, etc.). 

In order to better show the new orientation and the new self-image of the nature park, modernised graphic templates with a ‘sensual’ logo including the claim ‘With all senses ... experience nature’ were introduced from 2012, with which the focus on ‘sensuality’ was emphasised more strongly. 

Development of the forest education programmes

In order to better meet the increasing demand for forest education, clear seasonal packages for adventure programmes were put together, which have been well used ever since: since around 2013, around 50-70 school classes have been looked after with forest education programmes every year. As the demand for guided hikes, children's birthday parties and summer wilderness camps is growing, these programmes are increasingly being offered by qualified external partners.

From 2014, the beekeeper ‘Bieno’ looked after his hives in the nature park and in the following year, a rich ‘nature park honey’ was offered as the first nature park product; in line with the ‘sensory’ orientation and the focus on education, the nature park beekeeper has been offering his own beekeeping lessons for children and honey extracting afternoons for families for many years. In order to raise public awareness of nature park honey, the nature park has been organising a design competition for labels with local schools since 2021, with the winning label being used for a special edition of nature park honey for a year. 

Educational initiatives to stimulate nature conservation

In 2015, the Nature Park took over the ecosystem management of the Feihlerhöhe, a meadow orchard in the centre of Purkersdorf that was previously almost overgrown and was rededicated, purchased and renaturalised by the municipality. Although the Feihlerhöhe lies outside the immediate nature park area, it is a wonderful addition to the nature park and is used by many schools and recreationists. The nature park has set up a bee station there run by the nature park beekeeper, created several old wood cells with observation points and organises near-natural scythe mowing with the involvement of schools and the local population. 

The infrastructure was further expanded from 2016-2018: the completely weathered former ‘geology nature trail’ was cleared, in its place a former clearing on the Schöffelstein that was already almost overgrown was cut free, renaturalised and equipped as an attractive rest area with a small platform and several loungers from where you can easily observe the constantly changing renaturalisation; several beehives from our beekeeper have also been set up there; the paths were newly signposted and extended with information about natural phenomena, the quiet ‘Nebenweg’ was newly created to take some of the pressure off the busy nature trail. In order to familiarise visitors with the often overlooked ‘small’ natural phenomena (from tree sponges to woodpecker tracks), an ‘eyes open’ campaign was launched in which visitors can use a ‘treasure map’ to search for and find the relevant places.

The nature park has received several awards for its achievements in the field of education: in 2009 and 2012 the Hans-Czettel Prize for services to nature and environmental protection in Lower Austria, in 2013 a UNESCO award for the Generation Forest project, and since then several nominations for the Lower Austrian Energy Globe Award, most recently in autumn 2020 for the much sought-after ‘Genussbroschüre’.

Connecting the NÖ Nature Parks

From around 2005, the Province of Lower Austria began to network the nature parks (which all had different organizational structures and operated independently of each other) more closely. The aim of the authorities was to set up a coordination center through which the nature parks could improve their offers and public relations work, gain easier access to external funding, and thus increase their added value (especially for nature tourism). Driven by Wolfgang Müllebner (RU5 Nature Conservation Department) and Andrea Köck (WST3 Tourism Department), the NÖ Nature Parks Association ("Verein Naturparke NÖ" VNN) was founded in Purkersdorf on 20 November 2006. The founding members included the Nature Parks Buchenberg, Hohe Wand, Hochmoor Schrems, Leiser Berge, Ötscher-Tormäuer, Purkersdorf and Sparbach. 

During the first few years the VNN served as a coordination forum for exchanging views, because many nature parks remained doubtful, as they had fears that the new overhead structure would siphon off funding from individual nature parks.

Starting in 2017, the VNN strengthened its management capabilities when the VNN operations were integrated into the newly established “ENU” organization. In 2018 the VNN launched a nature park quality initiative, in which minimum standards for the organization and offers were defined. 

As part of this initiative, the Lower Austrian nature parks, which had previously operated largely independently of each other (because they each had a completely different background, a locally evolved organizational structure and their own self-image), committed to common quality criteria, adopted a joint development strategy and implemented a joint brand identity as the Lower Austrian nature park family. 

Nature park concept as a development guideline 

The procedures of the individual nature parks were each documented in a nature park concept, and the nature park municipalities have recorded the idealistic and financial support of ‘their’ nature parks in a ‘nature park charter’ in a municipal council resolution. In order to realise the objectives of the nature park concepts, the nature conservation department of the province of Lower Austria has approved project funding on a case-by-case basis.

As part of the concept, a scientifically based inventory of nature conservation priorities was carried out for the first time, which showed that there are 4 particularly valuable habitat types in the Purkersdorf Nature Park, in which 26 protected animal and plant species have an important refuge; this inventory forms the basis for all further nature conservation measures.

Integration into the joint brand identity 

One of the most important visible results of the reorganisation of the Lower Austrian nature parks is the jointly coordinated brand identity as the ‘Lower Austrian Nature Park’. Purkersdorf has supported this joint ‘brand identity’ from the very beginning and helped with its development, even though we had to swap our beloved logo from 2012, in which we referred to the ‘sensuality’ of our nature park with a deer, a beech leaf and a butterfly, for a strong beech leaf against a dark red background: the dark red shows the connection with the Wienerwald tourism region, the beech leaf is a catchy symbol for the core competence as a forest nature park with tall, majestic beech trees. However, we have maintained our claim ‘With all your senses... experience nature'  

Further development of nature tourism

For a nature park in the vicinity of the Vienna city region and as one of the most visited nature parks in Lower Austria, it is a core task to welcome visitors well and make their visit as easy as possible. Visitors should find their way around easily and relax well; they should learn from and about nature in the nature park and thus have open eyes for nature conservation in their own environment. Purkersdorf Nature Park does not want to protect nature by excluding people from nature, but by inviting people to discover and appreciate nature. 

From 2022, we - one of the first Lower Austrian nature parks - have therefore started a pilot project to further develop tourism. The background to this was that visitor numbers had risen sharply, particularly during the lockdown periods caused by the coronavirus pandemic; however, as our nature park is freely accessible from all sides and has neither entrances nor exits, some visitors were unclear as to where the ‘normal’ Wienerwald ends and the nature park begins. Tourism experts advised us on what day-trippers expect from the nature park, what help they need to find their way around and how their expectations of a good nature experience can be met as far as possible. 

Since 2024, the nature tourism measures developed in the pilot project have been implemented: those themes that distinguish Purkersdorf from other nature parks are now being emphasised more strongly: namely the themes ‘Relaxation in the beech forest’, ‘Josef-Schöffel and the protection of the Wienerwald’ and ‘Experience nature with all your senses’. From the end of 2024, these themes will be offered as 3 new trails: the shady "Buchenweg" around the nature park, the exciting "Schöffelweg", which leads through young growth up to the high forest and deals with Josef Schöffel as a nature conservationist, and the "Naturerlebnisweg" along the Wien river, which now focuses much more on the theme of water.