Hiking trails in danger: volunteers urgently wanted in East Tyrol

Hiking trails in danger: volunteers urgently wanted in East Tyrol

more and more often hiking trails in the Alps face major challenges. Extreme weather events, such as heavy rains, muries and slope slide, have increasingly caused damage in recent months. The Austrian Alpine Association, headed by President Wolfgang Schnabl, warns that the maintenance of the extensive network of path becomes an ever increasing mammoth task. This challenge is reinforced by the continued falling number of volunteers.

In a recently published notification of the Alpine Association, it is pointed out that the costs for the maintenance of the hiking trails have been exploded in the past ten years. Over 1000 volunteers are currently active in the Alpine Club and take care of more than 26,000 kilometers of network. Nevertheless, the budget has doubled within a decade. It is particularly alarming that the disaster fund for immediate measures has even increased by six times in order to fix the damage due to extraordinary weather events. In view of this situation, the Alpine Club now, together with other alpine associations, is calling for a financial rescue package of 95 million euros from the federal government.

challenges for volunteers

But money alone is not the solution. The importance of volunteers cannot be underestimated. Georg Unterberger, the head of the Hütten and Wegen department, emphasizes that more helping hands are needed: "Unfortunately, we find fewer and fewer volunteers for the route. Especially in this turbulent time we would need helping hands more urgently than ever." Numerous sections are already experimenting with "Microvolunteering" offers in order to respond more flexibly to people's needs. This means that interested parties can only help on individual days, which is particularly attractive for younger generations.

An example of this is the section in Lienz, where seven volunteers recently participated in the maintenance of a hiking trail to the Hochsteinhütte as part of such a program. This form of commitment shows that there are opportunities to be active even without long -term obligations.

However, the effective maintenance of the paths is a long -term affair. The Wegenwart of the Alpine Association Lienz, Daniel Ortner, explains that maintenance cannot be done on a single day. In the entire East Tyrol, for example, certain groups take care of pathways and markings to ensure that the paths remain safe in the future.

The situation in Matrei shows how important these voluntary commitments are. The group there is responsible for freeing paths of accumulated stones and branches, checking the markings regularly and replacing damaged signs. Without this continuous care, the hiking trail network in East Tyrol could soon disappear if there are further extreme weather events.

For a detailed view of the case, See the report on www.dolomitenstadt.at .