Natural forest reserve expert Georg Frank retires

Dr. Georg Frank, head of the Natural Forest Reserves unit at the Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW) for many years, will retire at the end of January 2025.

Born in Villach, he attended the forestry school in Bruck an der Mur from 1974, making him part of the first five-year class of forester training. From 1979, he studied forestry at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU). He wrote his diploma thesis on the Corsican black pine and compared the Corsican pine with those black pines in the Lower Austrian Prealps in his dissertation. Under Prof. Hannes Mayer, he became a university assistant at the Institute of Silviculture at BOKU. There he taught vegetation science as the key to silviculture.
In 1994, he received an offer from the then head of the Institute of Silviculture at the FBVA (now BFW), Dr. Fernand Müller, to set up a natural forest reserve program for Austria. The first natural forest reserve was established in Merkenstein in November 1995 together with Federal Minister Wilhelm Molterer. The natural forest reserve team made a tremendous effort: by the year 2000, 150 areas had already been established, and today there are 200 natural forest reserves with a total of 9,079 hectares. A “hidden” seventh national park, so to speak. Georg Frank was a sought-after expert and active in many national and international committees on protected areas, natural forests and nature conservation. Frank was also chairman of Pro Silva Austria for a long time.