? from a dumb American

[Dottie Little Tent]

Please forgive my ignorance. I have not made it to Europe yet. I frequent Montana and Wyoming and also love Alaska. By viewing the incredible photos on summitpost I can tell that the Alps in Europe are simply breathtaking. I am particularly drawn to the Dolomites. They appear to be as grand as my fav Mts of Glacier Nat'l Park if not more dramatic. But my ? is this. I have the impression that the European Alps are pretty muched carved up with roads and development and that the native species have been exterminated. I have never thought of anywhere in Europe having unspoiled wilderness with large predators running free.

is this correct? What kind of wild areas are preserved? How big ( in acres please) are some of your wilder tracts of land? Do you have Grizzlies or Cougars or other large predators that roam free?

Thanks for the info and I hope to make it to the Alps and maybe some via ferreta.
Cheers,
DLT

[Dottie Little Tent]

Also do you have native fish populations in the rivers and lakes? And what kind of fish?

[sjarelkwint]

not that much in europe no ...

In poland we do have bears.
A year ago there was a big problem in germany (i think it was germany) that there was a bear too close to a village ...

People in europe don't like bears.

In poland we do have big national parcs so they can live in peace overthere without being shot by one stupid hunter who thinks we still have enough bears to eat all our salmon ...

[Nikman]

The alps are well accessed. Someone has to have good knowledge to get to remote spots.

There has been a wild bear running around recently in the German alps crossing over to Austria and back into Germany. He killed some cattle and therefore was chased and nabbed. It´s been a big deal throughout the media and even the former Bavarian prime minister Mr. Stoiber hold a funny and well known speach about the "Problembär".

There are reports about wild wolfes in some of the remote areas, for example Zwischenbergtal in Switzerland. Another very remote area is the upper Lechtal (German-Austrian-border). The Gran Paradiso area in Italy is also quite remote and you will find many wild Alpine ibex there.

[Arthur Digbee]

Wildlife:
There are also wolves on the French-Italian border area, and in scattered mountainous areas throughout the boot of Italy. The bears (described in previous responses) are brown bears, as in North America, but smaller.

Wilderness:
In the Alps, the answer is "essentially none." Roads, trains, gondolas, huts, and other "improvements" are everywhere.

[nartreb]

There are several parks and wildlife refuges. For example, Parc National de la Vanoise and the nearby Parco Nationale del Gran Paradiso, together making maybe 2000 square kilometers.
Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.434117,7.098541&spn=0.501113,1.311493&z=10&om=1

There is development (ski resorts, whole towns) within these, so these are not pure wilderness. But chamois and ibex are abundant, and you can spot mouflon too [{re-}introduced]. Deer are present in the woods, and the Vanoise website mentions that wild boars have made a dramatic return since the 1990s. As for predators, the Paradiso's website mentions wolf and lynx, but those must be rare. SP member photos confirm fox and ermine.

[Nikman]

[Moni]

There are plenty of places that are remote and there is a lot less BS to go there. You don't have to kiss some ranger's ass to get a permit. The population density in Europe is MUCH higher than in the western US with the resulting development. However, the benefits are great public transportation. The hut system reduces impact from random camping.

In the 1850's only about 30% of Switzerland was forested, now it is 80%. Even with urbanization there is more forested ground than in previous years.

Not many predators, but lots of ibex, chamois, mouflon (like big horn sheep), roe deer, red deer, caribou, elk and smaller predators like fox and badger. They have way more song birds. Bear and wolf are rare. Not sure if Europe ever had anything like a cougar but they did (do?) have several species of wildcat.

The Dolomites are nothing like Glacier - completely different rock - but they are spectacular. The Berner Oberland in the middle of Switzerland is more like Glacier - same crappy rock, but with more glaciers and ice holding it together. The Alps have much more relief - not uncommon to see 6000 to 12000 feet of elevation gain on a climb, where in Glacier 6000 is about max and 3000 - 5000 more common.

Definitely worth a visit.

[signorellil]

[BigLee]

[Diego Sahagún]

DLT, check those sites:

http://www.summitpost.org/list/256482/national-parks-in-northeast-europe.html

http://www.summitpost.org/list/256498/national-parks-in-northwest-europe.html

http://www.summitpost.org/list/345770/national-parks-in-west-europe.html

http://www.summitpost.org/list/256005/national-parks-of-north-europe.html

http://www.summitpost.org/list/343176/national-parks-in-central-and-east-europe.html

[Arthur Digbee]

[Diego Sahagún]

[Arthur Digbee]

[Nikman]