A healthy mountain forest protects against natural events and polluted air. Around 2000 volunteers look after the Swiss mountain forests every year, helping to ensure that this important protection is maintained - especially in times of climate change. The Bergwaldprojekt Foundation is again looking for volunteers for one-week assignments this year.
The summers are hot, the winters are not as cold as they used to be. This has an impact on the mountain forests, because they are a sensitive ecosystem that reacts slowly, but very sensitively to changes. For over 30 years, the mountain forest project has been providing volunteers for the care of mountain forests in Switzerland so that they can continue to perform their protective role.
Sustainable care of sensitive forests
The planting of young trees is still far from complete. These trees need to be maintained in the years to come to grow big and strong. Therefore, the mountain forest project with its volunteers regularly returns to its places of work. This also reveals the changes in nature, such as the increase in red deer or the dryness of recent years. In order to make the small trees important pillars of an active protection forest, they nowadays need support in many places. For example, a fence to keep the deer away, or a trestle to keep creeping snow off the tree.
One-week use for the benefit of the forest
Every year 2000 volunteers support the mountain forest together with the mountain forest project. The work of the volunteers shows success: in many places the protection forest is intact again or on the way to it. To ensure that this remains the case, the mountain forest project is once again looking for volunteers who will get their hands dirty during a week in the Swiss mountain forests and work on steep terrain.
Register now for a volunteer assignment
You have the desire packed? Sign up here for one Use to protect the mountain forests Read more.