Naturpark Mürzer Oberland, Nature park in Styria, Austria.
Naturpark Mürzer Oberland is a protected area in the Alps featuring mountain peaks, alpine pastures, and forested valleys with diverse ecosystems. The park contains numerous hiking routes ranging from gentle woodland paths to challenging alpine trails.
The park was established by provincial law (LGBl. Nr. 89/2003) on 19 November 2003, covering 226 km² along the upper Mürz. It largely matches the Veitsch-Schnee-Raxalpe landscape protection area designated in 1981, which was adjusted to the park boundaries on 21 March 2002 while excluding the Naßköhr Moor nature reserve. Since the 2015 municipal reform the park area corresponds almost exactly to the municipality of Neuberg an der Mürz.
The park's "Naturpark-Juwele" are designated sites shaped by centuries of interaction between people and nature, such as gorges, caves, ponds, moors, waterfalls and springs. They are freely accessible. The Neuberg Minster, Austria's earliest uniform hall church in Gothic architecture, carries the country's largest wooden church roof truss.
The park spans 226 km² between 700 and 2007 m, with the Heukuppe of the Rax as its highest point. The Roßlochklamm adventure trail north of Mürzsteg has been closed since 2023 because of rockfall risk. The Naßköhr Moor lies in the northwest basin of the Schneealpe above Frein.
The "klimawandeln" adventure trail, newly opened in 2018, explains the effects of climate change in the Alps; the roughly 200-year-old Lurgbauernmühle, one of the last working mills, stands along it. The earlier Roßlochklamm adventure trail, opened in 2007 and named Austria's most creative nature trail in 2008, has been closed since 2023 because of rockfall.
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