The Wildsee, occasionally also called the ''Seefelder See'' ("Lake Seefeld"), is a lake near the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n resort of

Seefeld in Tirol Seefeld in Tirol is an old farming village, now a major tourist resort, in Innsbruck-Land District in the Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol with a local population of 3,312 (as of 1 January 2013). The village is located about northwest of Inn ...

at the foot of the Gschwandtkopf (1,495 m). It has an area of 6.1 hectares and a maximum depth of 5.1 metres. The majority of the lake belongs to the municipality of Seefeld, its south and west shores are part of

Reith bei Seefeld Reith bei Seefeld is a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located 12.3 km northwest of Innsbruck and 3 km south of Seefeld in Tirol Seefeld in Tirol is an old farming village, now a major touri ...

. The lake is fed from the Haglbach, which rises below the

col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

of the Seefelder Joch and empties into the lake in the southeast, and water from the bog of ''Reither Moor'' and other smaller springs. Its catchment area is just under 7 km². It is drained northwards by the Seebach which empties into the

River Isar The Isar () is a river in Austria and in Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel mountain range of the Alps. The Isar river enters Germany near Mittenwald and flows through Krün, Wallgau, Bad Tölz, Munich, and Landshut before reachi ...

. On the east shore of the lake are small beds of

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

and

sedge The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

; on the west shore

mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These ...

runs down to the lake. South of the lake is the ''Reither Moor'', a

raised bog Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs, unlike fens, are exclusively fed by precipitation (ombro ...

resulting from the

silting up Siltation is water pollution caused by particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the increased accumulation (temporary or ...

of the Wildsee in which

mountain pine ''Pinus mugo'', known as dwarf mountain pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine, Swiss mountain pine, bog pine, creeping pine, or mugo pine, is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe and So ...

trees grow. The south shore and the ''Reither Moor'' are a nature reserve. The Wildsee probably gave the village of Seefeld, first mentioned in 1022, its name. Emperor Maximilian I used it for

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

and had

lamprey Lampreys (sometimes inaccurately called lamprey eels) are a group of Agnatha, jawless fish comprising the order (biology), order Petromyzontiformes , sole order in the Class (biology), class Petromyzontida. The adult lamprey is characterize ...

s introduced, which is why the lake also bore the name ''Lampretensee''. The breeding of this fish, a prized delicacy at that time, only lasted for a few decades, however. Today, the Wildsee is a popular

bathing lake A bathing lake is a natural or artificial lake that is used for public bathing and swimming. In the water, bathers mostly remain close to the shore and use the area for recreational purposes, such as sport, games and sunbathing. In Europe, becaus ...

with two beaches. According to

limnological Limnology ( ; ) is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. It includes aspects of the biological, chemical, physical, and geological characteristics of fresh and saline, natural and man-made bodies of water. This includes the study of lakes, r ...

research, the lake has a low to medium nutrient content. Due to the bog-like character of the lake, visibility is only about 1 to 3 metres. In 2013 the water quality was classified as excellent. The Wildsee is threatened by silting up as a result of the

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

transported to it by the Haglbach. In future a pond will be excavated east of ''Innsbrucker Straße'' in order to trap the sediment. There is also discussion about enlarging the lake.Josef Hornsteiner: , plateauzeitung.at dated 4 February 2014, archived b
original
on 19 April 2014.

Gallery

File:Seefeld Wildsee Winter.JPG, The frozen Wildsee in winter File:Wildsee Seefeld.JPG, The Wildsee with the Gschwandtkopf behind File:From Wildsee, Seefeld in Tirol A.jpg, The

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

from Wildsee

Literature and external links

* Notburga Wahlmüller: ''Beiträge zur Vegetationsgeschichte Tirols V: Nordtiroler Kalkalpen.'' In: Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlich-Medizinischen Vereins in Innsbruck, Vol. 72 (1985), pp. 101–144
pdf

Tyrolean reserves: Reither Moor

References

Lakes of Tyrol (federal state) LWildsee Seefeld in Tirol {{Tyrol-geo-stub