Now that we are back at our palatial IIASA offices, we are getting caught up on blog posts. The photos used in this blog were taken by Trisha and Kristine.
Last Wednesday, right before we left for Hungary, we visited
Nationalpark Donauauen (or the National Park of the Danube Floodplains) with researchers at BOKU (the University of Natural Resource and Life Sciences in Vienna), Professor Thomas Hein and Nina Welti.
Thomas brought us on a tour to see the old dike system protecting the nearby farming communities in the floodplain.
 |
| Looking at a map of the river section and the surrounding mosaic of agricultural development. |
The Danube was a naturally braided river (not unlike the Platte), but has been channelized and engineered for navigation, flood control and hydropower.
 |
| Barges and ferries on the Danube |
After a picnic on the riverbank, we met Manfred, a (really excellent and knowledgeable) ranger with the national park who took us on a rafting tour on the river to learn more about the history and ecology of the Danube. The weather was warm and sunny and the waters calm. We saw cormorants, herons (grey and great blue), and signs of beavers (chewed up logs), raccoon dog (paw prints) and weasels (scat).
 |
| The students with (from left to right) Jan, Manfred (our park ranger at the helm), Craig, Nina (a researcher at BOKU), and Sherri rafting on the Danube | |
 |
| On the towpath next to the river |
 |
| Danube River zebra mussels. |
 |
| Craig with zebra mussels. |
 |
| It's not hard to be all smiles after an afternoon of paddling on the river. |
| |
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment