Drought threatens water supplies for Bavarian mountain farms

Persistent dry periods are weakening mountain springs and putting pasture farming at risk in the Bavarian Alps, BR reported. Farmers raised concerns about water shortages and wolves during the annual main alpine pasture inspection near Lenggries.

More than 900 people joined the event in hot weather in the Lenggries foothills, including numerous mountain farmers. Several said springs were supplying only small amounts of water, forcing them to transport water to their pastures in tanks.

Mountain farmer Kaspar Gilgenreiner relies on a single spring to supply his pasture and its 45 cattle. The spring normally provides enough water, but its flow has now fallen sharply and reserves are running low. Long-lasting rainfall is urgently needed, he said, because without water there can be no alpine pasture farming.

Short showers have at least kept the pastures green. At an altitude of 1,400 metres, however, there is currently no shortage of feed, unlike in many other parts of Germany.

Josef Glatz, chairman of the Upper Bavaria Alpine Farming Association, said the situation was not yet a major threat but that better preparations were essential. Water supplies would become increasingly difficult if groundwater and surface water declined, he said, adding that more water would then need to be stored. Some 22,000 animals currently have to be supplied on pastures in Upper Bavaria.

Federal Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer and his Bavarian counterpart Michaela Kaniber called for better adaptation to drought. Kaniber said the dry conditions were not a one-year phenomenon and that authorities needed to develop effective strategies, particularly for managing the region’s water resources.

Farmers also welcomed the inclusion of wolves in the hunting law. They are now waiting for practical solutions for grazing areas that cannot be protected with fences or guard dogs. Several districts near the Alps have already designated such areas. Hunting Minister Hubert Aiwanger said a wolf should be able to be shot there if it poses a danger to people or grazing animals.

According to current figures from the Bavarian State Office for the Environment, two individual wolves are currently in the Alpine region, while nine packs are in the rest of Bavaria.

Norbert Schäffer, chairman of the Bavarian Association for the Protection of Birds and Nature, acknowledged that wolves could cause problems in individual cases. He said the more pressing challenge was maintaining funding for conservation programmes that make species-rich alpine pastures possible.

Mountain farmer Tanja Müller said farmers often discuss wolves, even though only two individual animals are currently in the Bavarian Alps. If wolves arrived in their area, she said, it could raise the question of whether farming could continue. Kaniber said the debate was ultimately about more than wolves, including the future of mountain farms and the survival of livestock grazing.