Background The Danube winds through one of Austria’s most romantic gorges, the Wachau, between Krems and Melk. This important east-west corridor has for a long time been an attractive place to settle, as evidenced by the exquisite cultural legacies of the Venus of Willendorf and the baroque abbey Stift Melk. However, the geography and biodiversity of this area are just as highly regarded. The 33km gorge is one of the only two remaining undimmed and freely-flowing stretches of the Danube in Austria. The Wachau’s mosaic of main river habitats and tributary water systems, dry grassland and species-rich slope woods, of natural habitats and cultural landscapes, is marked by the intermingling of Pannonic and Alpine influences, and is home to many rare and endemic species. Although the main river flows free, a dramatic loss of structural diversity has occurred within the past few decades: elimination of gravel banks and other interventions, and the disappearance of the lateral channels due to increasing sedimentation of cut-off river arms during the periodic floods. Further up the slopes, dry grasslands have been abandoned for more lucrative orchards and vineyards, while intensive forest management and introduction of non-native species is increasingly affecting the slope and floodplain forest remnants. Objectives The LIFE-Nature project would be conducted by a regional NGO, of which all municipalities and the two abbeys in the Wachau are members, in partnership with the river authorities and the regional fishing association. It would include a pilot project to recreate gravel banks and islets in the Danube using the 400 000m³ gravel dredged annually from the shipping channels. If successful, this recycling of gravel would become river authority policy. Together with the reactivated lateral river channels, the gravel structures were planned to serve as spawning ground for the fish fauna and as resting and breeding sites for aquatic birds. New forest management integrating conservation aspects would be introduced to increase the proportion of dead wood and stop the proliferation of exotic tree species. Around 140ha of dry grassland would be restored and its recurring management secured. Results The project's main achievement was the implementation of river restoration measures. They deserve special attention from other river restoration projects as they took place on a large scale and provided great ecological benefits (especially for fish and bird species). This is noteworthy as the Danube is one of Europe’s most important inland navigation routes. A gravel plan foresees that all gravel excavated from the navigation channel between 2005 and 2020 would be brought back into the Danube River. Another key result of the project was the transformation of 64ha of forests to natural forests and the sustainable management of 80ha of dry meadows. The project has undertaken intensive media work and networking activities with experts from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Poland. The project organised the Austrian LIFE-platform in 2005 and was presented at various meetings, conferences and events. Moreover, 37 visits to target groups were made by the project team. The project was awarded first prize in the ‘Milestones - Dr. Erwin Pröll future prize’ in the ‘In Uniso with Nature’ category. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).