Eisenwurzen nature night area
- Theodor Wimmer
- Oct 2
- 1 min read
Updated: Oct 3
The federal states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, and Styria have joined forces to preserve one of the last remaining areas in Europe with a largely untouched night sky, reduce light pollution, and thus protect ecological diversity in the long term. Protecting the darkness is of key importance: only about 1% of the European population lives under a natural night sky free of light pollution. To create a place where darkness, with all its ecological and health impacts, can continue to be experienced, the Eisenwurzen Natural Night Area was developed by the Kalkalpen and Gesäuse National Parks, the Styrian Eisenwurzen, Lower Austrian Eisenwurzen, and Ötscher-Tormäuer Nature Parks, and the Dürrenstein-Lassingtal Wilderness Area. Already 19 municipalities are part of the Natural Night Area and are implementing targeted measures to reduce light pollution. These include, for example, switching to compliant street lighting and the use of blue light filter films. Numerous other regional organizations and businesses support the project. The project created Austria's largest natural night area - it was submitted as a Dark Sky Reserve to DarkSky International in August 2025.
Key facts about the project:
Location | entire nature park |
Measure type / project category | Research cooperation |
funding program | NP Basis |
Sectoral objectives of the Alpine Convention | Ecosystems & Biodiversity |
Project partners | Styrian Eisenwurzen Nature and Geopark, , Dürrenstein-Lassingtal Wilderness Area, Gesäuse National Park, Kalkalpen National Park, ECO Institute, the University of Vienna and Umweltdachverband |
Project period | since 2025 |
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