The Greening of the Danube – Restoring Oxbows in Austria and Germany
The Greening of the Danube – Restoring Oxbows in Austria and Germany

Summary/Abstract: Up to the middle of the 19th century, the Danube was a free-flowing wild river in most parts. Maps, pictures and travel reports from that time show a varied river landscape with narrow gorges and wide basins. The Danube consisted, apart from the largest stream, of a water network with various large and small branches and extended riverine woodlands. This natural river system was fairly wide, not too deep, and characterised by unstable banks. Large-scale floods occurred in regular intervals. In correspondence with the water channel, also the location of gravel banks, islands, etc. used to change continuously. In case of floods, several branches merged, islands and banks were reshaped, while new alluvial deposits emerged in other places. The river was in a state of dynamic balance, in which this system could regulate itself. (World Wide Fund for Nature, 2002.)

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