Project: illwerke vkw AG transformer station
Location: Bürs, Vorarlberg, Austria
Cost: 65.000 EUR for biodiversity planning, implementation, seedbed preparation, woody planting, meadow casting, large tree transplantation, etc.
Dates: Realised in 2015
Objectives: Landscape external areas in and around the 11.15 ha transformer station to promote biodiversity by establishing species-rich planting under the technical facilities, whilst also meeting the relevant safety and maintenance requirements.
Measures undertaken: Seeded 1.4ha during May with a ‘best’ seed mix selected from 15 different producers. Transferred meadow cuttings to a 0.5ha area of the facility. Planted 900 wild shrubs as a natural boundary to the facility, including native wild Rosa specie. Adaptive mowing and shrub cutting schedules, as necessary. Occasional inspections are carried out with experts, including counts of established
plants and sighted animal species.
Results: After implementation, ecologists identified over 70 different plant species within less than an hour that had developed in the plant.
Challenges:
- On the one hand, the requirements of the authorities must be met, but the solutions must also be sustainable, practicable and easy to maintain;
- Substrate requirements: Establishment of a meadow that also supports heavy machinery (< 8 tons) for maintenance work (even in wet conditions); and
- Distance rules: The spacing of the system components of the transformer station must be planned accordingly to ensure sustainable management of the areas below.
Success factors:
- Optimising costs through near natural land management (reduced mowing); and
- Utilising the established meadows as an area to obtain further seeds for the region.
Images copyright: illwerke vkw