About the association

The association and its members

Tyrolean Lech Nature Park

The Nature Park Tiroler Lech is a registered association. In addition to private individuals, all 24 nature park municipalities, the two tourism associations Nature Park Region Reutte and Lechtal, the Province of Tyrol - Department of Environmental Protection, the Association for Regional Development Außerfern, the District Chamber of Agriculture Reutte as well as WWF Tyrol are members of the Association Nature Park Tiroler Lech.

The history of origins

The formation of the Tiroler Lech Nature Park Association includes the following milestones:

2000: Designation as Natura 2000 site (Flora-Fauna-Habitat & Birds Directive)

2001: Start of LIFE nature conservation project "Wild River Landscape Tyrolean Lech", investment sum: 7.78 million euros, 53 nature conservation measures

2004: Designation of the Tiroler Lech Nature Park by decree and designation as a nature reserve by the Department of Environmental Protection of the Province of Tyrol.

2006: Foundation of the Tyrolean Lech Nature Park Association with headquarters in Weißenbach

2007: Completion of the LIFE project.

2022: Completion of the 2nd LIFE project.

Short portrait

Tyrolean Lech Nature Park

Since 2000, the Tyrolean Lech has been part of the Europe-wide ecological protected area network Natura 2000. The two directives - Flora-Fauna-Habitat & Birds Directive - form the basis for the Natura 2000 area and serve to safeguard biodiversity by preserving natural habitats and wild animals and plants.

Four years later, the designation "Nature Park" followed by decree and the designation as a nature reserve by the Department of Environmental Protection of the Province of Tyrol. The protection serves in particular to protect the flora and fauna and inanimate nature as well as the preservation and protection of natural and cultural landscapes.

The Tyrolean Lech Nature Park is located in the northern Limestone Alps, embedded between two mighty mountain ranges - the Lechtal Alps in the southeast and the Allgäu Alps in the northwest. Covering an area of 41.38 km², the protected area essentially comprises the wild river Lech with its adjacent floodplains and riparian forests, the most important tributaries and parts of mixed mountain forests. The Tyrolean Lech Nature Park is thus the largest contiguous protected area in the valley area of Tyrol, whose natural space is mainly shaped by the wild river Lech. It extends from an altitude of 800 m to 1,380 m above sea level.

After changing from the Vorarlberg to the Tyrolean side, the Lech flows for 62 km in a west-northeast direction through the nature park until it leaves Austria at the southern German state border near Vils/Pinswang. The nature park has very long outer borders in relation to its area.