Naturpark Sölktäler, Nature park in Styria, Austria.
Naturpark Sölktäler covers 289 km² across the municipality of Sölk in Styria, bordering the Schladming ski area and the Amadé sports region. Within it lie the Wölzer Tauern and Schladminger Tauern landscape protection areas, the Sölkpass nature reserve and the Niedere Tauern Natura 2000 site. Its terrain runs from valley floors to high alpine pastures, with gorges, caves, ponds, moors, waterfalls and springs among the features marked as Naturpark-Juwele.
The Sölktäler area was designated a nature park in 1983, covering 289 km² within the municipality of Sölk. It lies beside the Schladming ski centre and the Amadé sports region. The park contains the Wölzer Tauern and Schladminger Tauern landscape protection areas, the Sölkpass nature reserve and the Niedere Tauern Natura 2000 site.
Traditional alpine farming shapes the valleys today, and visitors can observe herders at work on the mountain pastures while learning how butter and cheese are made using old methods. This way of life remains central to local identity and continues to define how the landscape looks and functions.
The park's jewels, such as Schwarzensee, the Sölker marble outcrops, the Sölkpass and the natural cold spots, are freely accessible and easy to reach on foot. The park borders the Schladming ski area and the Amadé sports region, so winter visitors share the valleys with ski traffic. Sturdy footwear suits the mountain terrain.
White marble runs through the crystalline rock beneath the park, allowing lime-loving plants and alpine species that prefer acid soil to thrive side by side in the same valleys. This geological quirk creates plant diversity that feels surprising in a single mountain landscape.
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