Pernkopf: Active municipalities further conscious treatment of soil

"More than 70 members of the Soil and Land Alliance render Lower Austria the region of soil conservation no. 1 in Europe. Active municipalities, such as Lichtenegg, are models worthy of imitation for a sustainable development", states Regional Minister of Environment, Dr. Stephan Pernkopf on the occasion of unveiling the soil plate at the municipality of Lichtenegg.
A „Lower Austria" plate, two metres high, at the forecourt of the school shall in the future draw the attention of inhabitants of this municipality and visitors to soil and its properties. A soil profile, extracted from municipal area, was directly engraved into this plate. Mayor MPP Franz Rennhofer received the soil plate for his municipality of Lichtenegg in the region of "Bucklige Welt", where awareness for the value of soil has been deepened for many years by means of varied activities.
Soil activity concepts for municipalities
Starting from the „forest playground", where the forester teaches nursery school and primary school children, and the targeted use of seepage areas in construction of roads, ways and areas, and farmers' market and farm shops with their own mill in the village, from composting of cemetery waste up to long-term use of soil as energy source, for nearby heat supply as well as for innovative wind power projects the numerous activities of this municipality have been summarized in a "soil activity concept".
Furthermore, Rennhofer, as a chairman of the SENEC Soil and Bioenergy Network of European Countries, cooperates with the municipality of Lichtenegg and a large number of partners in establishing a soil conservation network in the Danube region and in practical EU projects in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
It goes without saying that also other municipalities of the Southern region are active in soil conservation.
Within the framework of this event, mayors and municipal representatives from the municipalities of Zoebern, Scheiblingkirchen-Thernberg, Krumbach, Grimmenstein and Bad Erlach received "soil postcards" with the typical soil profile of their respective municipality.