Open Rivers – River Film Fest preluded Alpine Rivers Symposium in Burghausen
A film evening on dam removal and river conservation marked the beginning of the Alpine Rivers Symposium in Burghausen 2024. Participants of the symposium gathered at the Anker Cinema in the old town of Burghausen for an evening that opened with live Jazz with the Wolfgang Hanninger Quartett accompanying the presentation of letters to the Sea and to the Salzach river.
Following welcoming words by Chris Fischer (Onewater) and Gunter Strebel (City of Burghausen), representing the host organizations of the Alpine Rivers Symposium, moderator Michael Bender (Living Rivers Foundation), introduced the first sequence of short films, including “Vjosa Forever” on Europe’s first Wild River National Park and “Fluch und Segen” on flood protection at “Riedstrom” in Swabia’s Donauried. The program featured a short version of “Dam Busters” , a strong call for more dam removals and better rivers conservation in Europe.
Neža Posnjak, Network Manager for Dam Removal Europe On behalf of the World Fish Migration Foundation, stressed the importance of barrier removal for the recovery of the migratory fish population. Aging dams might also impose safety risks or increase flood risk as they hold back sediment needed to stabilize the river bed, especially under Alpine conditions.
Sigrun Lange of WWF Germany introduced two river conservation projects, “Fluss.Frei.Raum” (Room for the River) and “Gewässerperlen Plus” (River Pearls), including related dam removal activities. As a prime example for dam removal in alpine regions in Europe, WWF suggests to designate the Ammer as a river to restore to free-flowing condition under the EU Nature Restoration Law by removing an obsolete weir as well as a hydropower facility.
A short documentary on the Life Network Danube Plus portrays a river restoration project at the Danube including the restoration of floodplains and fish habitats. While hydropower clearly has severe effects on river ecosystems, hydropower plant operator Verbund commit to restoring certain freshwater ecosystem functions. Johannes Wesemann of Verbund pointed out that the hydropower plants at Salzach are already equipped with technical installations for fish migration and that continuity shall be provided from the Danube to the Engadin & “Krimmler Wasserfälle” by 2027 in line with the WFD. Another Life project, “Riverscape Lower Inn”, comprised bypass installations, restoratoin of river banks as well as barrier removals in the tributaries.
Surprise guest Christof Wandratsch, ice swimming world champion, announced his initiative to organize a free flowing Salzach swimming event in September 2025.
The short film “The Soul of the Salzach River” featured Pascal Rösler, film director and standup paddle activist, in his effort to demonstrate negative effects of barriers to the entire river landscape.
“Zauber der Isar”, the final film of the evening, documents the Isar River Concert, a recent collaboration of WWF Germany, Bavarian nature photographers and musicians from the non-profit Orchester des Wandels, the Orchestra of Change.
