Digital library

The lecture on Triglav National Park highlighted the challenges posed by the rapidly increasing number of visitors in Alpine environments and their impacts on nature. Park rangers shared their field experiences, illustrating how growing visitor pressure affects wildlife, sensitive habitats, and quiet areas. They also pointed out frequent rule violations, off-trail activities, and the growing influence of social media, which often directs visitors toward some of the park’s most vulnerable locations. Special attention was given to the international project LiveAlpsNature, which connects nature conservation, human well-being, and sustainable land use through the “One Health” approach. The presentation also included results of a questionnaire among park rangers, revealing which activities cause the greatest disturbances in nature and how familiar visitors are with park regulations. The lecture emphasized that rangers’ field experience represents an invaluable source of knowledge for visitor management. Their observations support the planning of conservation measures, the establishment of quiet zones, and more effective communication with visitors — with a clear goal: maintaining a balance between experiencing nature and protecting it.

The presentation on the Swiss National Park, classified as IUCN Category Ia – Strict Nature Reserve, highlighted the management of one of the most strictly protected areas in Europe. The park is based on clear legislation, strict rules, and the principle of minimal human interference in natural processes. Visitors must stay on marked trails, while activities such as collecting natural materials, camping, or flying drones are prohibited. The lecture emphasized the importance of combining digital and personal visitor information, including websites, apps, social media, visitor centers, and direct contact with park rangers. Visitor counters and trail monitoring help track visitor pressure within the park. Strong supervision and consistent enforcement are key elements of management. Rangers conduct regular patrols and use digital systems to issue fines for violations, ensuring that visitors understand and respect the park’s strict conservation regime.

The speakers presented the management of the Haute-Savoie nature reserves in France, where visitor management measures strongly adapt to seasonal conditions. In winter, the focus is on establishing and respecting quiet zones to protect wildlife, as animals are particularly vulnerable due to low temperatures and limited food. Communication campaigns and video content help visitors understand the importance of responsible behaviour in these sensitive areas. In summer, the main challenges are traffic pressure and bivouacking. To address this, reservation systems for camping, limits on the number of tents, and increased on-site supervision have been introduced in the most visited areas. The speakers emphasized that management relies on a combination of legislation, supervision, and targeted communication, with the main goal of preventing conflicts and reducing pressure on sensitive locations.

The authors presented an original and somewhat humorous approach to understanding modern mountain visitors, using the Italian Alpi Marittime Park as an example. They described different visitor profiles, ranging from ski tourers and cyclists to drone users, social media influencers, and hikers with dogs. They also highlighted the rapidly increasing number of visitors in the Alpine region and the influence of social media, which can direct visitor flows into sensitive natural areas. The park therefore combines awareness-raising, educational campaigns, clear communication of rules, and, when necessary, supervision and enforcement, using creative approaches to reach different groups of visitors.

The speakers presented visitor management in Adamello Brenta Nature Park (Italy). A key challenge is balancing tourism development with the protection of sensitive natural areas. The park applies several visitor management measures, including regulated access to valleys through controlled parking and paid entry, shuttle transport to reduce traffic, and a network of trail sensors that monitor visitor numbers in real time. The collected data serve as an early warning system for spatial pressure and support the adjustment of management measures. The goal of management is not only to reduce the number of visitors, but above all to direct visitor flows to more resilient areas while protecting the most vulnerable parts of the park.

The presentation provided a broader overview of the European Ranger Federation (ERF), which connects rangers and nature conservation organizations across Europe. The network aims to strengthen professional knowledge, international cooperation, and the professionalization of the ranger profession. ERF carries out training activities, working groups, and international projects addressing topics such as conflict management, the use of new technologies, and the exchange of good practices. Special attention is also given to strengthening the role of women in the ranger profession and supporting younger generations of professionals. The presentation emphasized that today’s conservation challenges go beyond national borders, making international cooperation, knowledge exchange, and shared standards essential for effective management of protected areas.

Andrej Zdravič is an award-winning filmmaker who has immersed himself in underwater filming of the Soča River, an important natural treasure of Triglav National Park. His half-hour video and sound installation Secrets of Soča is on view at the TNP Info Center Dom Trenta. The trailer you are about to watch offers only a glimpse of this unique installation. “My first attempts at underwater filming of the Soča River in 1987 inspired me to develop a special device that allowed me to reveal visual perspectives of the Soča previously unknown to the human eye,” Andrej Zdravič wrote about the permanent video installation, originally created in 1995 and, more than three decades later, presented in a renewed form at the TNP Info Center Dom Trenta. The filmmaker captured the Soča in a unique way throughout all seasons of the year. The video installation thus becomes “a wreath of songs of the Soča River. Each song reveals, through image and sound, one of the many states of life arising from the movement and phenomena of the river’s waters: Mysterious Source, Light Rays, Undulations, Black Water, Droplets of Snow, Summer Forest, Little Cascade, Air Manes, Secret Pulse, Trout Games, Dance of Pebbles, Chalk, Little Beach, Water Sky, Liquid Glass, Funnels, Swift Current, Spaces, Guardian of the Deep, Stormy Stream, Autumn, Leaves and Rain, Swarm of Light, The Source, Mount Triglav.” Secrets of Soča installation unfolds before visitors to The TNP Info Center Dom Trenta across multiple television screens. Conceptually, the program is based on the Time Horizon concept, first realized by Andrej Zdravič in 1993 in the installation Water Waves for the Exploratorium, a museum of science, tehnology, and art in San Francisco. A few words about the author: In 1999, Andrej Zdravič received the Prešeren Fund Award. Two decades later, he was honored with the Badjura Award for Lifetime Achievement. Over the course of his creative career, Andrej Zdravič has produced nearly 40 films and video installations, including the one that reveals to visitors of TNP Info Center Dom Trenta a previously unseen, hidden underwater world of the emerald river.

The Julian Alps, spanning the border between Slovenia and Italy, are a remarkable example of transboundary cooperation in biodiversity conservation. The interviews and focus group we organized with the main stakeholders in the area allowed the TRANSNATURE consortium to uncover the main characteristics of this transboundary cooperation.

“Nature” is a widely used but rarely defined term amongst scientists, policy makers, business leaders and the public. It is at the heart of many important international frameworks and conventions that, in turn, shape national policy and regulation towards the natural environment. Not only is nature often freely used interchangeably with the term “biodiversity”, but the abiotic component is also often poorly understood and frequently overlooked.

Climate change and related impacts on tourism and outdoor recreation in Austria are increasingly felt in the number of hot days and variable weather conditions. This paper investigates how these effects likely influence visitor behavior in the future. A survey with an integrated discrete choice experiment was applied combining weather information, travel distances, travel means, attraction type, certification and parking fees (N = 5544). The analysis of the results yielded a four-class model which showed different substitution behaviors during unpleasant weather conditions, making clear that decisions are based on complex trade-offs and lead to significant behavioral changes under climate change conditions. For destination management, these innovative insights into planning behavior and greater understanding of the four segments are crucial for future product development.

The numerous positive effects of hiking and the experiential quality of the natural environment encourage an increase in the number of hikers. Despite several counters established in the Triglav National Park, there is no systematic monitoring of visitors in the Julian Alps. In this study, we identify visitor concentrations at hotspots in the Julian Alps, area of Triglav national park,based on spatial analysis with Strava data.