Location Burgenland Nearest city Rust | Area 97 km² Established 1993 | |
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The Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park (German: Nationalpark Neusiedler See-Seewinkel) is a national park in eastern Austria. The park extends over an area of 97 square kilometres of the province of Burgenland and protects parts of the westernmost lake of the Eurasian Steppe.
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History
This national park is located on the eastern edge of the Alps and on the western edge of the Little Hungarian Plain. Because of its location, the area has, for centuries, been a buffer zone between the great powers of Europe. In 1994, as the first national park in Austria, it received a category II label from the IUCN.
Description
The area of the national park is a meeting point for different plant and animal species. These include alpine, pannonian, asian, mediterranean and northern European species. This results in a mosaic of environments, including wetlands, herding meadows, meadows, sand steppes and salt areas. In the west the area is bordered by the Leitha Mountains, the Parndorf Plain in the north and the Hanság in the east. The mire of Hanság was for centuries a part of the Neusiedler lake. The Neusiedler See itself lays at the lowest point of the Little Hungarian Plain at an altitude of around 115m above sea level.
The ownership structure of the national park Neusiedler See-Seewinkel is different from that of other national parks in Austria. Neusiedlersee-Seewinkel is not owned by any government but rather by around 1,200 different owners. Most of them are local farmers that receive a yearly compensation for leaving these plots unused.