Soil protection systems / wind protection systems

What are soil protection systems?

Soil conservation systems are stocked with native trees and / or shrubs in our cultivated landscape, that

• serve agriculture to safeguard its production
• provide habitat for the natural fauna and flora
• bring the population a varied landscape

They used to be called windscreen belts. Today, they are referred to according to their function, their structure or their situation as a soil protection plants, tree shrub hedges or as landscape elements.

 
Purpose of soil protection systems

• improving the microclimate by reducing the wind speed; this reduces evaporation losses and partially compensates for temperature extremes
• Braking of soil erosion by wind and water
• Creation of semi-natural habitats in the cultural landscape
• Networking of existing biotopes
• animation of the landscape with new landscape elements

Construction of soil protection systems

The selection of plant species is based on area and location-typical floral tables. The plant material used includes only native species. In cooperation with the project "Regional woody growth" of the Lower Austrian Landscape Fund, autochthonous seed is used as far as possible for the cultivation of the woody plants.

The structure of the systems in plant rows, herb strips and "Ökönischen" is planned individually according to local conditions. By way of example, a special soil protection hedge for the Waldviertel is presented. In this 3-row plant different bushes are used in the west, e.g. (Dogwood, buckthorn and buckthorn). As the first barrier facing the wind, they are intended to brake west winds and drag snowdrifts into the actual soil protection.
In the middle of the system are alternately planted deciduous trees (ash, wild cherry and wild fruit) as well as low bushes typical of the Waldviertel. On the east side, a continuous row of shrubs with low shrubs is finally exposed to the platform-shaped flattening to the east.

Further information:

Lower Austrian agricultural district authority
Dipl. Ing. Erwin Szlezak
E-Mail: post.abb@noel.gv.at
Tel: 02742 / 9005-15291

Dipl. Ing. Christian Steiner
E-Mail: post.abb@noel.gv.at
Tel: 02742/9005/16055

3109 St. Pölten, Landhausplatz 1, house 12