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www.sipra.org.org. Port slash podcast. Welcome to the Sipra podcast. In this episode, we will discover what Austria's Hoa Tower National Park region and Slovenia's Yoluvitza plateau have in common.
This podcast is recorded in English. The original version was recorded in Slovenian language. What is the project Yoluvitza all about? This question was answered by project manager Katarina Chackel from Sipra, Slovenia.
In March 2021, more than 20 representatives of various organizations from local governments, over forestry, to nature and cultural heritage conservation met with a common desire to preserve the character of the Yoluvitza region. Together, they designed the project Yoluvitza with the aim to address several challenges the region has been facing in the last years. This concerns, for example, the negative impacts that climate change had on local forests. This should be achieved in cooperation with all residents and representatives of local organizations.
The core piece of the project is to jointly develop a model for the management of the local forests. In addition to Zipra Slovenia, the project also involves the municipality of Schlesnica, the SORA Development Agency, the Slovenian Nature Conservation Institute, the Slovenian Institute of Forests and Zipra International. We will start with a few words of context because probably quite a few of you don't know much about Yoluvitza. Yoluvitza is a plateau in the eastern part of the Union Alps, stretching between the five municipalities, Gelsnica, Grann, Bradauwitza, Bled and Bojhj.
It is one of the largest concentrated areas of nature conservation in Slovenia and it is also largely included in the Nature 2000 Protection Network. It is a typical car's landscape mostly covered with coniferous forests. In recent years, Yoluvitza was confronted with various challenges. On the one hand, with the effects of climate change such as storm damages and bark beetle infestations in the forests and on the other hand, with its increasing use as recreational and leisure area.
However, there is no study to come up for the management of the Yoluvitza area which would include nature conservation as well as tourism and regional development. The two main project objectives are the development of a participative management model and ensuring greater climate resilience of Yoluvitza through ecosystem restoration. So far, the project partners have carried out several activities such as presentations in all five municipalities and an analysis of the state of the local forests. One of the initial steps was in good practice visit to the National Park region where Taiwan in Austria which was organized by Marieta Karjicz-Zvidell, an expert in nature protection and strategic communication.
The visit should help to discover ways of communication with different stakeholders and the public to whom it is wished to convey the values of natural and cultural heritage. Maybe you wonder why the area of the Huertaouan was chosen for this visit. Marieta Karjicz-Zvidell explains it to us. But also, the place where the world is in the world is not the place where the world is in the world is below, so the Pinska region inside spoke.
This is because the Pinska has many things in common with Yoluvitza. Both regions are rich in natural and cultural heritage, and in Marieta's opinion, the Pinska takes very good care of its heritage. Like Yoluvitza, the Pinska is characterized by forests and alpine pastures. Tourism is planned carefully in order to avoid overloading the environment and places with little inhabitants.
There is the Digitali Plan, a truly sustainable development in ways that are tailored to the needs of the population, and which, at the same time, are in harmony with the objectives of natural and cultural heritage conservation. What the study visit has come to see as a good practice example in Pinska is the extremely extensive and high quality activity of communication in different ways and with different publics, to local population, with businesses, with municipalities, with visitors and companies. The aim of this communication is transmitted values and to educate people to have a good and respectful relationship with their surroundings. There are many ways of communication, from information transmission, over guidance to marketing, because the way you present yourself is the way you get the tourists.
The study visit group also came to see examples of heritage interpretation. This is a special form of communication, because only half of it is actually communication, while the other half is by planning and experience. It is not so much about informing, but about encouraging people in an experiential way to create their own personal and respectful relationship with the local identity, values, nature, culture and history. Because we are talking about two kinds of knowledge.
There is academic knowledge, which we get through research and books, and traditional knowledge, which is acquired through experience over the centuries. But that can be lost and forgotten very quickly, if you are not careful. So, together with a group of representatives from all partner organisations, they went on a three day good practice visit through the Pinska region in Sidesburg. The first day was spent in the Rauhesswale, which stretches from Taksenbach to Kolmseigorn.
In addition to its rich cultural history, the area is also known for its natural wonders. The inhabitants of the valley strongly depend on tourism, which they undertake with great care and consideration. In Rauhesswale we had the chance to meet with the mayor of the municipality, Peter Lloyd Feynar, the director of the tourism organisation Rauhess, Gehar Maestan, the director of the K. L'Ochau Rauhesswalebannen, Sich Fritrassa and Echad Sichla as representative of the hunters and forest owners.
With them, we discussed how nature conservation and heritage protection can be successfully combined with tourism. Our great fortune is that the Rauhesswalebannen has so far been spared from large tourism flows. Our greatest potential, also for the future, is our nature. We are very careful with this nature.
We want our guests to get to know and appreciate this nature, but also to treat it with respect. We try to leave everything as we find it and to preserve this capital for future generations. In the past, many things have been spared from our valley, which in retrospect we consider to be very positive. So for example, no large hotel complexes have been built here.
And now there is a clear orientation. We have our nature and we work with this nature. We want to convey this nature to our guests, but away from the fun and action programmes. Instead, nature should be in the foreground.
That is our greatest opportunity. We are convinced that nature is becoming more and more important to our guests. Of course, we can't appeal to all guests, but to certain guests we can. We are looking for nature and calm.
Especially families realise that nature offers a lot. They can spend a week on holiday here without getting bored. Explains Kiaad Meista, Director of the Tourism Organisation on Rahuas. But what does that mean in practice?
Over the course of the afternoon, the group visited and experienced various examples that bring tourists and locals closer to the cultural and natural wonders of the valley. In the afternoon, the group was able to admire eagles, falcons, bussards and owls soaring through the air of the Hohayim. During a one-hour life demonstration, the falcona, Pita Kritsan also gave an understanding of the behaviour and habits of this party endangered birds of prey. Afterwards, the group took the forest education trail and learned, while hiking, more about the local fur and fauna.
The day was finished with a visit to the Kings of the Sky Interpretation Centre, where the group got an even more detailed insight into the fascinating life of large birds, such as the Griven Vulture or the Golden Eagle. Then, the museum also presents the whole story of the reintroduction of the bearded vulture in the Rahuas and the valley. After its extinction through hunting, the National Park has been working on the reintroduction of the bearded vulture since the 1980s. On the second day, the group discovered the edge of the so-called Rahuas virgin forest, which was even more mystical than usual due to the enormous amount of rainfall that day.
The tour was guided by Hana's mezinger, a ranger in the National Park with Bawan and an expert on forests. Despite being soaked to the bone, the participants enjoyed the hike already learned more about the flora and fauna of this ancient forest. They saw sprouses, larches and stone pines that are 100 of years old, which led to a religion of beards and provide a home to many alpine birds. However, the tour was not just about knowing the facts, but also about giving the visitors an opportunity to really feel nature and the importance of its conservation.
No matter which rally of the National Park you are, you will always find something that fascinates people or you are fascinated yourself, also in different seasons. The virgin forest has something to offer even if the weather is not so pleasant, and it's just as beautiful whether you go there when the weather is nice or when it's snowing, because nature simply always offers something. Of course there are places that you particularly like, but probably because something emotionally connects you to it. Reveals Hana's mezinger.
He also tells us how guiding visitors through the National Park can sensitize them for certain topics like climate change. Because we are at Mounting National Park and have more than 266 glaciers, we strongly noticed how climate change is progressing. From time to time, but rather rarely, visitors deny anthropological climate change with these courses like climate change is something normal anyways. But when you show them where the ice surface was last year and how quickly and rapidly it is receding, then I think people start to reflect.
And this year it is quite extreme because already in May the glaciers looked like they normally look in Okadoba before the snow comes. The ice was almost bare and every glacier. You could see the crevasses everywhere and everything was open. That's something people perceive.
So seeing the beauty of nature but also experiencing the loss of natural heritage can make people think and idialy also motivate them to act. Strategic communication and interpretation of heritage can thus be a key tool to successfully manage natural and cultural heritage. But what exactly do these abstract sounding terms mean and how is it related to Yolubica? Marietta Karstice-Svedel explains.
In Slovenia, strategic communication is commonly used in other areas, for example for influencing consumers or voters before elections. It is known from the field of defence where we talk about secret plans, etc. However, strategic communication, which we call heritage interpretation, is very underdeveloped in Slovenia, although it is a discipline and a method that could be used more massively. The idea is to apply all the knowledge from other areas of strategic communication which are better funded to the field of communicating the values of natural and cultural heritage.
The means of interpretation are infinite. From a multi-millionaire interpretation centre over a table runner or a bag of sugar sitting on a table to a slope in the hotel. Everything can be a means of communication. But why strategic?
Because it is not about a one-time message but about communicating the same messages, the themes of interpretation over a long period of time in different ways. A theme could be for example Yolubica is beautiful and we all wanted to stay beautiful. Now why is it beautiful? This varies from person to person.
Kvas find Kaves beautiful, for parents with more and more children, it is wonderful to be able to lie on a grazing pasture and do no harm, but for someone it is wonderful to know that there are wild rusters without going there. The messages below may be many, but they support the main message, the main theme. According to Marietta, interpretation of natural and cultural heritage is more than just informing people. It is about designing experiences that lead to a respectful personal relationship with heritage.
Of course there is also something you need to know about this heritage, so the interpretation must also contain some information. But the key is not to enhance your knowledge, but to have someone say, oh how beautiful, this is really special, let's take care of it. Such precious and rare experiences make people realize that it is really worth the effort to protect this thing. This has been proven to be the only effective way to preserve heritage.
After the hike, we visited the Felberto Museum in Midasil to see an example of how cultural heritage can become tangible. The museum offers visitors an interesting insight into the history of the Somhandal, the old way of trading over alpine passes by foot. In a museum, we met Ferdinand Lina, who together with the association of the Felberto and Sama is working to preserve this centuries old tradition of trading which had an outstanding importance for the economic development of the region. Ferdinand Lina said that the Alps, despite their grandeur, have never been an obstacle.
They are full of passes that port us the so-called Soma Asama used in the past to transport goods. They carried salt, wine, spices, textiles and many other things between north and south on the back of horses, mules or other peck animals. These roots also create links between different cultural regions. They are the life winds of the Alps, promoting cultural exchange and the transmission of knowledge.
To ensure that this culture and knowledge is not lost, the association focuses on young people. For example, they have worked with agricultural schools to teach students different skills, such as how to sell horses or how to treat horses as peck animals. They also see great potential in hiking tourism where groups could go on hikes along historical trails with local guides. The Bacha family is also taking care of the preservation of the heritage.
In the following, you will hear a poem about the Swiss stone pine, Pinot Samra, written by Bacha and recited by his granddaughter, Darizia Bacha. But you have just heard of the slice of cultural journey we made in the Rauchkucul, the restaurant of the Bacha family, which is located in a 500-year-old farmhouse in Stauphain. The house itself tells countless stories that have taken place around it in the past. The cultural and culinary adventure was even more special, as the former chef Darizia Bacha cooked in front of us on an open fire while telling about the local histories and traditions.
Her son, Tobias, re-inverents traditional dishes. From wild herbs to berries and mushrooms, he uses everything that the forest and the alpine pasture of the surrounding area have to offer. Definitely a good example of how cultural heritage can be preserved and passed on through generations. The last day of the visit was dedicated to the National Park Centre in Midasil.
There, the director of the park inside the book, Wulfur and Oban, the deputy director, Anna Bicilla, who is also responsible for public relations and education in Bürich, and, again, the park-crain-jan-es-vizinger gave us an insight in the management plan. It is a planning instrument with which the National Park Administration defines all goals and related measures that should be implemented within a time frame of nine years. This concerns the five fields, natural area management, preservation of cultural land, science and research, education and visitor information, and regional development. Wulfur and Oban repeatedly pointed out that the successful development and implementation of such a plan depends on the inclusion of all stakeholders and differing interests.
This is guaranteed by the fact that all interest groups must also be presented in the advisory and decision-making bodies of the National Park. Hannah Bicilla answered our question on how land owners and land users perceive or understand the National Park and their role. It is human to have different opinions on things. It is also the case in the National Park.
There are those who fully defend the park and its regulations. They say that it's great if the meadow is only one once and that only limited the amount of animals can graze there. When you show these land owners pictures, for example, of which butterflies pieces occur in their meadows and how many different plants pieces grow there, they are fascinated. Especially when you tell them, I've seen this and that in your meadow thanks to you, because you keep the meadows free and only modem twice a year.
The biodiversity looks completely different than if you would fertilize the meadows to death like in the valley where only butter cups and bend lines grow. The land owners like to hear that. They are proud of it. They say, look what's growing in our meadows.
But of course there is also the other side who says, we want tourists here. That's the way it is. It is quite normal. Especially in the cum la Avental.
It is a bit like that. There the taxes sometimes drive in in columns. Then we have to say, no, that's not possible. And then the National Park is the bad one because we limit the entrances.
You can make everybody heavy. That would be weird anyway. Then there is something wrong too. Sometimes you have to make yourself unpopular and follow a clear approach.
What you could hear was the rushing of the famous Klemla waterfall. Our last stop on the study visit and the best place for a reflection. One of the participants was Miha Markel, a collaborator of the municipality, Julesnike. He has been working with municipalities for a long time on similar projects, most of which deal with the protection of natural and cultural heritage and the protection of natural values.
He shared his thoughts about the study visit with us. My point of view is very sensible. To choose the area of Pinska or for the study visit. When looking at a big picture, we see how the visited good practice examples in Austria can be transferred to my municipality and the surrounding area in Slovenia because of the similar historical, natural, geographical and social context.
This makes sense and is practical. My task and that of the municipality of Julesnike is now to bring this down to an administrative level. We as project partners should show these examples to the other four municipalities of Julesnike. For me, that is the greatest added value of this excursion.
So we came to an end. We are leaving the visit with a number of lessons learned. One main takeaway was that tourism and nature and heritage can be compatible if we approach planning systematically. This goes hand in hand with the fact that communicating values is also a process that requires a strategy and the involvement of all stakeholders.
Only by working together we can make a good model for the management of Yolovica. We invite all those who might be interested to visit the website of the Slovenian Zora Development Agency and the website of Tipper International to find out more about the project itself. The links to both websites can be found on the show notes of this podcast. This podcast is part of the Yolovica project co-funded by Iceland, Liechenstein and Norway through the European Environmental Agency Financial Mechanism.
Thank you for listening. This podcast was produced and moderated by Anna Fuchs and Maya Kogosak from Tipper International. A podcast by CIPRA. The CIPRA Podcast.
Interviews, background talks and voices from all Alpine countries. Listen to this and more in the podcast of the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps. www.cipra.org.org. forward slash podcast.