After two hot summers with a large number of day-trippers, the Walchensee has had a relatively quiet season this year.
The masses of visitors with all the undesirable side effects did not materialize.
Nature is happy about what hit some restaurateurs.
Jachenau - At Walchensee you can sometimes observe amazing species. There are the Instagram tourists, for example. "They only come to take a photo - so stylishly that they can't even go swimming," says Gaby Kammerloher, who works as a Walchensee ranger. This year, however, such hunters made more effective pictorial motifs rather rare. Instead, other species could be seen - especially at night: "Roe deer, stags, foxes, owls, eagle owls and woodcock," says Kammerloher's colleague Hans Adlwarth. All of these animals would venture out of their retreats and reclaim their terrain in the absence of excessive crowds, especially at night.
No question about it: the Walchensee summer 2021 is in stark contrast to previous years. In an interview with the Tölzer Kurier, the rangers Gaby Kammerloher and Hans Adlwarth as well as Franz Steger, head of the lower nature conservation authority in the district administration, draw a positive seasonal balance from a nature conservation point of view. The garbage in the landscape has decreased by 80 percent, says Adlwarth, "and there were far fewer fireplaces". The escape route on the south bank, which used to be often parked, was free this year. Forbidden camping outside of the designated night parking spaces has also decreased significantly. Steger recorded a clear decrease in the administrative offense proceedings due to violations of the Nature Conservation Act - although he cannot filter out any specific figures here.In the district office, around 3000 relevant processes are currently being processed, including cases from the previous year.
Walchensee: 80 percent less rubbish, escape routes always free
Steger and the rangers attribute the fact that flora and fauna are breathing deeply to various factors. The decline in visitors, they agree, is clearly due to the weather. "The winter has dragged on for a long time, so the lake has not warmed up," says Adlwarth. In a hot, dry summer like 2020, when the sun already shines strongly in April, the always fresh mountain lake can heat up to a good 20 degrees. But this year, "it rained in at least every three days," says Adlwarth. He estimates the current water temperature at around 15 degrees. This not only changes the crowd, but also the nature of the Walchensee guests, as Gaby Kammerloher has observed. “There were fewer day tourists, but more holiday guests who stay longer.“And the ranger found them to be more interested in flora and fauna and more open to nature conservation issues. “Our educational work with them was very pleasant,” she says.
In general: Franz Steger also attributes the work of the rangers to the fact that the situation at Walchensee has relaxed in many ways. A total of eleven of them were out and about in the district this summer. They see their task not only in convicting wild campers, parking offenders or illegal barbecues, but above all want to educate and raise awareness. Nevertheless, it is important to be present on the south bank at night, for example. “It has to be checked,” says Gaby Kammerloher. The fact that the rangers are out here is now known in motorhome circles. But the rangers' information work is also clearly bearing fruit - not least among the local population. With her, the need for protection of the native natural jewel is becoming more and more important. Adlwarth is happy,that committed citizens have set up an amphibious fence on Süduferstraße for the first time this year. Steger has heard that some locals on the Walchensee beach have a screw jar with them, in which they first collect cigarette butts before they spread their blanket on a meadow.
Orchid meadow in the Zwergern area is blooming
Cooperation with the police, forestry companies, water patrols and local residents is very important to the rangers. “You can tell that everyone is pulling together,” says Adlwarth. Thanks to the open-mindedness of the landowners, it was possible, for example, to protect a valuable orchid meadow in the area of the Zwergern peninsula. "There was a six-meter-wide aisle there before," says Adlwarth - because the bathers ran through it or spread out. Signs and fences have now been put up to protect the ecologically valuable area. The pedestrians would be directed from the Chapel of St. Margareth over a gravel area to the shore. The "beaten path" has grown to one meter again. In the spring, Gaby Kammerloher discovered the ecological diversity that can be found on other lawns too,if you let them flourish: from daisies to the rare keeled leek. Adlwarth finds it fascinating and encouraging "how quickly nature regenerates".
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