It’s been two days since our last entry. However, a lot of things happened in this short time frame. Jure, a dedicated old timer when it comes to Riverwalks, left us on Monday when we headed from the Dobra Dam to a representative of the local initiative “lebendiger Kamp”. After a fairly short hike we arrived at his place. He informed us about the rather shady circumstances under which an expansion of the dam in Rosenburg is being discussed. The amount of energy the dam currently produces isn’t much. This expansion would imply to build a new dam behind the old one which is slightly higher. Furthermore, it is planned to deepen the river bed over 1,5 kilometres to increase the difference of height to get more energy out of it. However, the amount energy which will be generated more is in comparison to the overall costs of that project extremely small and can in the end be compared with one wind turbine. An environmental consequence would be that the water flow will slow down even more. As a result it destroys the natural structure of the Kamp and the habitats in which the fauna and flora is dependent on. Maybe this argument sounds bearable, but it becomes stronger when we think of the fact, that we lost already over 90% of the free flowing water bodies in Austria due to dam constructions. Additionally, we are talking about peanuts when we compare the amount of energy that is being produced to Danube hydroelectric power plants, which are contributing a significant part to our energy demand. After an interesting discussion with Clemens, from the local initiative, we went to sleep at a truly remarkable location, even for Riverwalk standards. Of course, referring to his organic garden.
The next day we took a long hike to Rosenburg. The environment we crossed along the way was probably the most beautiful up to this point. This is very easy to measure, by the way. You just have to count how many times someone stops to take a photo. Anyways, we walked a lot next to the Kamp, which has a lot variation in its flora and fauna at this point. One can imagine the biodiversity in this valley by the fact that we were watching two kingfishers flying along the Kamp while someone else spotted at the same time a beaver cruising around in the shallow water. In the end, we passed the power plant in Rosenburg and shortly after arrived at our sleeping point.
Today, we made a break from hiking and instead met Hans, a local biologist. Together we went back to the power plant where he gave us further details about the ongoing conflict, concerning the dam. Furthermore, we discussed the possible consequences for the environment in case of an expansion. Later on we walked around the area and onto an old castle while talking about many topics surrounding the interest of the local citizens. We went back to our place at around seven. By foot. In conclusion today wasn’t really a break from hiking, was it?
