To the west of the militia, forest workers have cleared more than two dozen trees, mainly deciduous trees, in an area of ​​around 2,500 square meters in the past few weeks. This is intended to create a species-rich poor meadow after the most recent general renovation of the historic defensive walls at the vigilante.

“Trees must now be cleared for their original state”

The fact that trees have to give way is regrettable, says the biologist and Mönchsberg expert Reinhard Medicus from the Salzburg Nature Conservation Union: “If forest is cleared here, it is to restore a condition that is centuries, if not thousands of years old. The fortifications by the vigilantes go back to the first city fortifications in 1280, and only after the Second World War did this moat become wooded.”

Poor meadows on Mönchsberg occupied

According to Medicus, the existence of poor meadows on the Mönchsberg is proven by old documents. “There was a landscape that was very similar to the Lüneburg Heath – with grazing by sheep. These nutrient-poor grasslands have either been intensified or reforested and forested. Revitalizing the small-scale Magerwies is a matter of nature conservation.”

A similar poor meadow on the Rainberg has to be laboriously kept clear of bushes by environmentalists and goats, adds the biologist.