Creation of the National Park
Spared from the Ice Age, watched over for centuries by an escalating civilisation, saved in the last minute from total tourism marketing - that is the Nock region in Carinthia.The gently rounded, green Nocken are reminiscent of Ireland or the high plateaus of the bright spaciousness of Castile. Herds of cattle graze as high as the peak regions together with gigantic herds of deer, the numerous dilapidated mines have long been covered in primeval alpine forests. Wild nature and an ancient alpine-farming culture mark the character of the Nockbergs National Park, which encompasses a practically exotic landscape in the middle of Austria.
Ski circus or gentle "tourism"
To protect the Nockbergs, very intensive and determined educational work was required of nature conservationists for the rejection of expansive exploitation plans. At the beginning of the 1970s, plans were considered for the opening to tourism of the central part of the Gurk Valley Alps. A gigantic skiing circus was to be created between Innerkrems, Bad Kleinkirchheim, Falkert and the Turracherhöhe.All of these projected ideas, and the first concrete plan in 1980 to build a holiday village with 1,500 beds in the "Windeben" area, was met with tremendous resistance. Massive protests by nature lovers, Alpine Associations and signatures collected for petition against such a project led very quickly to a public opinion poll.
This was carried out on 7 December 1980, and 94.32% of the votes were against the total opening up of the Nock region. Following intensive discussions with local inhabitants and the vigorous cooperation of the nature-conservation organisations - above all the Austrian Friends of Nature - and feverish planning, the "Nockbergs Conservation Area" - the National Park was put to the test already by 1984. A further information- and planning phase finally led to the founding of the Nockbergs National Park, which was conclusively decreed on 1 January by the provincial government of Carinthia.
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