Blogging
From Abroad

First, if you have not already noticed from my other writings, I am infatuated by the mountains here in Austria (-: . Any course (or excuse!) that will place me in an alpine zone completely rocks my world. My heart really is in these high mountain regions, it is difficult for me to describe- but I just feel this sincere sense of belonging when I am up there. So, much to my pleasure, this past weekend was spent in Styria- a region I have been yearning to return to (-;

A little background behind the course. The alpine region of Austria is hugely susceptible to natural hazards. Coincidentally, mountain forests play quite a vital role in the mitigation of these risks. Protective forests serve the purpose just as it says- to protect against avalanches, torrents, rockfall, erosion and even things we take for granted- clean drinking water (thats me drinking right out of the stream below- absolutely delicious and refreshing water too!):

One of the many beautiful things about BOKU (the University I am attending here), is the ability to take all these excursions, there is no classroom lecture- it is pure work out in the field! However, for this course, to receive a certificate of completion, students must submit a management outline based on the principles learned on the excursion, no big deal (-:

The BOKU actually has a funny slogan on posters around campus of a student pole vaulting across a large creek (in former times they used poles to cross natural obstacles), it says “Und was studierst du?” (which means “And what are you studying”). Honestly, if I could develop a study program for myself, it would be based around excursions and field work (-;

The first day of the course was focused on avalanche mitigation. The site we visited formerly had avalanches that were sweeping down the mountain into the river of the valley and creating difficulties for a small hydroelectric power station. You see, the area has a long history of human usage (mostly grazing) and consequently, the natural timber line is much lower than the potential timberline, creating problems. So, a lot of effort is placed into afforestation in higher elevations of Austria. I would love to embellish more into it, but the problem was partially solved by constructing these expensive devices (note the small tree regeneration beneath them!)

I am continually impressed by the sophistication of the protection measures here in Austria. It also worth noting the upkeep of these protection devices is done by a farmers association, who owns the land, use it for livestock grazing, and live nearby. So, since there is not much government intervention (perhaps for the initial construction), it is in their best interest to promote and maintain these protective forests (-:

The photo above is at the top of the ridge, the snow is still nice and deep- even on the 1st of June! It made for some fun snowball fights too (-;

The second day was spent looking at erosion. To sum up the lecture for the day, as quoted from Professor Pitterle, ” Once you know the erosion process, you can develop the regeneration (of trees) process”. Below is a photo looking across the valley at one of the many stops we made. Note the bare ski slopes on the mountain across the valley and on the right-hand side. That is Scladming and was just rewarded a week ago to be the site of the 2013 World Downhill Ski Championship (-:

At the end of the day, our professor payed us all drinks at an alpine Hutte, and it was quite a lovely scene (-:

I hope you enjoyed reading about my excursion as much as I had the pleasure of enjoying it myself (-: