The psychological block that so far prevented from planning and authorizing projects in sensitive high mountain areas further decreased during 2009. The Austrian Alpine Club (OeAV) warns against the destruction of landscape and recreational resources on the Alps and asks for a framework for a well-balanced territorial planning, in order to preserve the typical Alpine landscape.
All across Austria can be observed the tendency to build cableways and other skiing infrastructures inside the boundaries of protected areas and other high-value zones: examples of this inclination are the foreseen construction of a cableway across Warscheneck protected area, an underground cog railway through the central region of the Hohe Tauern National Park from Sportgastein to Schareck or the project of a cableway inside the "peace-zone" of Kalkkogel.
In 2010 the OeAV will examine closer all these cases; during a press conference held at the end of 2009, the OeAV urged the Tirol government to define a framework that shouldn't allow the exploitation of protected areas.
The Piz Val Gronda represents a very interesting example of this process. For 30 years this peak, which rises between Austria and Switzerland, has been menaced by regular attempts of exploitation. So far, these plans have been rejected thanks to the exceptional richness in flora of this region and because of its exceptional geological and geomorphologic variety.
The scientific paper by OeVD named "Piz Val Gronda - a peculiar natural oasis inside the Austrian Alps" is downloadable here: www.alpenverein.at/naturschutz/Publikationen (in German).