A. Schwarzenberger, J.Laass & R.Zink

The bearded vulture went extinct in the Alps in the early 20th century. An international reintroduction program was started in 1986, based on the release of young bearded vultures born and reared in captivity. Up to 2012 a total of 184 birds have been released in the Austrian, French, Italian and Swiss Alps, the vast majority within protected areas. Since 1997 a total of 92 birds have fledged in the wild.

Observations from the whole Alpine Arc are being collected in the central online database of the International Bearded Vulture Monitoring (IBM), a collaboration of 12 partners all over the Alps. Currently about 55.000 observations are documented. For this study observation data from 2003 to 2012 and all reproduction events from 1996 to 2012 were used. For the analysis protected areas provided by ALPARC have been used.
Considering the Alpine part of each country, the observations of bearded vultures are quite evenly distributed. Fifty-one percent of observations have been located in protected areas. There was a considerable difference in the amount of data located inside protected areas between countries. Whereas in France 78% have been located inside in Switzerland this was found for only 28%. The majority of observations are found in National parks (79% of all observations inside protected areas).

No difference in the distribution has been found for the different age classes of bearded vultures on an Alpine scale. Since 1996 151 breeding events have been recorded in the Alps.

Out of these, 92 young bearded vultures have fledged in the wild. 65% of the 151 breeding events have been located within protected areas, but again relevant differences among the countries have been noted (Italy 92%, Austria 62%, France 53%, Switzerland 52%). On an Alpine scale bearded vultures have been almost equally successful breeding inside (62%) and outside (58%) protected areas. 

Overall, 51% of all reported observations of bearded vultures and 65% of all reproduction events of the species have been located in protected areas in the Alps, which were estimated at 25% of the area covered by the Alpine arc. Thus protected areas definitely are centres of the known bearded vulture distribution in the Alps.

(Author : Richard Zink) 

 Following a large participatory work involving more than 150 scientists across the entire alpine Arc the article "The 50 most Important Questions relating to the Maintenance and Restoration of an Ecological Continuum in the European Alps " was finally published in January 2013 in the scientific open access journal PLoS One.

In order to keep this cooperation dynamics on the topic of ecological connectivity alive and to propose first answers to the questions raised in the article, a dozen scientists and practitioners came together in Innsbruck the 26th and 27th March 2014, in the frame of the Platform Ecological Network of the Alpine Convention, for a Workshop on the topic "Take advantage of land use change for improving connectivity". 

  Land use change scenarios in Switzerland (based on climate and demographic changes) and their effects on ecological networks have been discussed and experiences from Switzerland, Italy and France on the transfer of knowledge between science and practice shared. All participants underlined the difficulties to get in contact with politicians on this topic and to exchange with farmers, who often only see a reduction of their productive land caused by the creation of hedges or fallow ground in the activities carried out for connectivity improvement. Science must be mobilized in order to better share their results on ecosystem service provided by connectivity for example.

Discussion show different points of interest for the alpine countries :

• the difficulties for mobilizing politicians and citizens for activities that are not directly linked to concrete implementation activities on local level;
• lack of available data for transnational analysis;
• the need to take in account predictable land use changes and not limit the planning of ecological networks to the current land use situation ;
• the importance of further studies on the costs of conservation versus the costs of restoration of destructed habitats also considering the their capacity to deliver ecosystem services.

 The Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention organizes the second "Young scientists Award".

Please find more information in the press release below as well as under following link . 

The signature of the Alpine Convention has marked a new historical turn. This Convention is much more than a treaty among States. It is the international recognition of the fact that a coherent development of the Alps - meant as a territorial system, necessarily requires the definition and the use of common tools, as much as the joint elaboration of policies and strategies, able to exalt the specificity of the territory.

Therefore, the book aims to be a key to access the Alpine Convention, seen not only as an international law treaty, but as a "set of tools" to pursue in a coordinate manner, a long-lasting balance between economic and social development and the need to preserve both the environment and our cultural inheritance.

It is a complete set of tools to work beyond national borders. A set of tools which are available not only to policy and decision makers, but also to the population, that in the Alps and more than in other regions, is closely linked to the territory. A territory that has to be managed with care...

In fact, the Alps are not a barrier to communications that have to be crossed through as quickly as possible, or a mine of resources that have to be exploited without any limits, or an amusement parc. 

Photo legend, from left to right : the Secretary General of the Alpine Convention, Markus Reiterer ; the deputy governor of the Land of Tyrol, Mrs. Ingrid Felipe ; the ALPARC president Michael Vogel ; the representative of the Danilo Re steering committee Martin Šolar and the director of the National Park Hohe Tauern - Tyrol, Hermann Stotter.

The deputy governor of Tyrol, Mrs. Ingrid Felipe, officially announced it on March 17th, 2014 in Innsbruck in presence of the ALPARC President and the Secretary General of the Alpine Convention: the National Park Hohe Tauern - Tyrol will host the General Assembly 2015 of the Alpine Network of Protected Areas - ALPARC and the Memorial Danilo Re.

The National Park Hohe Tauern organizes for the first time in the history of ALPARC its General Assembly. The park, who is one of the founding members of the network and very active since the beginning, will so welcome the two most important events of the ALPARC calendar 2015 in the Defereggental in the valley of St. Jacob, where the Memorial sport event as well as the gatherings of field agents and managers of the protected areas will take place.

ALPARC and also the Danilo Re Memorial will both celebrate their 20th anniversary next year: one more reason to offer, beside thematic exchanges and sports events, also festive moments. A central theme of the General Assembly will be the future evolution of the network and its priorities for ....the next 20 years.

Pour préserver la traditionnelle COEXISTENCE DE L’HOMME ET DE LA NATURE et pour garantir la conservation des précieuses caractéristiques naturelles et culturelles de la vallée de Logar (Logarska Dolina) dans le futur, un décret a proclamé en 1987 la création du Parc paysager Logarska Dolina.

Un parc naturel est un paysage protégé dans lequel l’interaction entre l’Homme et la nature a produit, au fil du temps, un espace au fort caractère et avec des valeurs écologiques, biologiques, culturelles et paysagères remarquables.

La vallée de Logar a été protégée en tant que parc paysager en 1987 par un décret de proclamation des monuments naturels, culturels et historiques de la commune de Mozirje.

En 1992, les habitants de la région ont fondé la LOGAR VALLEY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY et obtenu de la municipalité locale le droit de prendre en charge la gestion du parc. Des taxes ont été instaurées sous forme d'une contribution à l'entretien de la vallée et de frais de parking; c'est la seule source publique de financement.

Aujourd'hui, le parc dispose d'un service pour la nature, de services de base et d’une infrastructure touristique (entretenue régulièrement), d’un système d'information pour les visiteurs, d’attractions touristiques durables (hiver et été) et d’un certain nombre de sites bien gérés d'intérêt naturel et culturel.

Logar Valley Lc. (Logarska Dolina d.o.o) dispose de 3 employés (garde-moniteur, agent de centre d'information et chef de projet).

Le territoire du Parc paysager Logarska Dolina se situe entièrement sur la commune de Solčava et s’étend jusqu’aux limites des communes de Jezersko, Kamnik et Luče (toutes localisées sur le Mont Ojstrica).

Le parc a une frontière commune avec l’Autriche (Gemeinde Bad Eisenkappel). L’espace protégé couvre la totalité du vallon glaciaire Logar et est une des sept vallées glaciaires des Alpes Kamnik-Savinja qui s’ouvrent vers le nord.

Il s’étend sur ses plus hauts sommets (Ojstrica 2350 m, Planjava 2394 m, Turska gora 2252 m, Koroška Rinka 2433 m, Mrzla gora 2203 m) et ses parois rocheuses (Okrešelj, Klemenča jama) puis serpente jusqu’au fond de la vallée, qui se termine par une moraine glaciaire au nord.

La rivière Savinja prend sa source dans la vallée de Logar, d’abord sous la forme des chutes du Rinka, qui disparaissent ensuite sous terre puis refont surface dans la partie basse de la vallée, en tant que rivière Črna. Cette dernière rejoint ensuite le Jezera pour devenir la rivière Solčava.

Il y a plus de 40 sites d'intérêt naturel enregistrés à Logarska Dolina, parmi lesquels des chutes d'eau, des aiguilles rocheuses, grottes, abris sous roche, blocs erratiques, des arbres de dimensions énormes, de la flore et de la faune. Le Rinka est l'une des plus hautes cascades de Slovénie (90 m).

La flore diversifiée du parc comprend notamment la rare orchidée renouée (Cypripedium calceolus), plus grande orchidée de Slovénie, et plusieurs espèces de plantes endémiques, dont la Céraiste des Alpes

juliennes (Cerastium julicum), Allium kermesinum (ail des Alpes kamniques) et Leucanthemum lithopolitanicum (marguerite des Alpes kamniques).

L'Aigle royal (Aquila chrysaetos) niche dans la zone plus large autour de Logar Dolina et la vallée abrite aussi le Faucon pèlerin (Falco peregrines).

Le sentier 7 KM Logarska Valley offre un parcours nécessitant environ deux heures de marche, un peu plus avec un guide (avec explications); sinon il est aussi possible de choisir un parcours plus court plus bas dans la vallée, à environ 730m d’altitude.

Fiche d'identité