AUSTRIA ~ The Kalkalpen National Park - UNESCO ~

... Great nature view of the most important national forest park in the Alps that protects Austria’s largest continuous forest area... with ancient beech forests, towering peaks, river gorges and extensive karst landscapes... home to the oldest beech tree with a proud age of over 550 years... its cave systems include some of Austria's deepest explored caverns, with underground passages extending over 50 kilometers beneath the limestone peaks... the park is also the only place in the Austrian Alps where lynxes are once again native... it offers a range of natural and cultural sites for exploration... Thanks Monika!(✿◠‿◠)

The Kalkalpen National Park  in Upper Austria was founded in 1997 with an area of 20,850 ha and is located in the Reichraminger Hintergebirge and Sengsengebirge mountains.The most valuable of these beech forests – approximately 5,250 hectares – have been proposed as a World Heritage Site. 

A total of six different beech forest can be found here: the cyclamen beech forest, the hellebore beech forest, the woodruff beech forest, the carbonate-alpine spruce-fir beech forest, the loamy spruce-fir beech forest, and the high-montane carbonate beech forest.  

Since 2017, the old beech forests and primeval beech forests of Kalkalpen National Park have been a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

Stamps:

Holidays in Austria 

(Issued 01-01-2002)

Impressions from Austria 

(Issued 01-03-2015)