Tong Tana December 1999 - Bruno Manser Fonds

Switzerland
Derborence
Sion
A virgin forest in Derborence
bm – A wild, steeply inclining ravine prevents access to
one of the last remaining virgin forests in Switzerland:
Derborence. The tiny forest barely 1 km 2 in size is –
although only a fly speck on the map – a unique habitat
in Europe. South of the Diablerets Glacier in a
mountain cirque afflicted by rockfalls at 1430–1700 m
above sealevel, it has been mostly spared from human
intervention for centuries thanks to its inaccessibility.
Along with the blasting of an adventurous road through
the cliffs logging finally began in this last untouched
valley. The Swiss Alliance for the Protection of Nature)
– called Pro Natura Schweiz today – was able to
acquire 50 ha of virgin forest in 1959 and place it
under total protection. Derborence lets us get a whiff
of untamed wilderness, the richness and diversity of
species in virgin forests which covered most of the
Alpine area 2000 ago. Here you can still find the threetoed
woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus), treecreepers
(Certhia familiaris) and rock partridge (Alectoris
graeca). Here mighty pines stand next to each other:
the thickest has a diameter of over 160 cm and
is 44 m high with a volume of wood amounting
to 30 m 3 ! Death is but a condition for new
life. I can count 390 annual rings on a
fallen tree with a diameter of 110 cm;
on another 300 young pines are
sprouting. Next to ferns as high as a
man and blueberries as large as peas,
with a bit of luck you can sight one of the rarest
mushrooms which resembles a frozen waterfall: the
“Hericium”. In the virgin forest of Derborence there is
over twice as much volume of wood (550 – 900 m 3 /ha,
depending on the site) as in the other regularly used
secondary forests in Switzerland (300 – 350 m 3 /ha).
Maybe in future more Swiss communities will decide
against the expensive utilization of a remote piece of
forest in order to let at least some trees reach their
natural age
Crimes against trees
bm – In the last newsletter the BMF criticized the killing
of one of the largest standing beech trees, possibly
300 years old, in order to provide the Jura viper with
more light and living space. Green leaves appeared on
the tree although the bark had been removed from
around the trunk. The water could still flow from the
roots up into the crown but the downward flow of storage
products was interrupted by the removal of the
cambium and the tree is dying. The responsible forest
warden in Kleinlützel/SO will take into account our concerns
regarding the protection of over 150 year-old
trees in similar projects in the future. In Liesberg/BL
our demand for the meaningful use of utilizable timber
has already been realized according to the local forest
warden: 85% of all felled trees are utilized for wood,
15% remain on the ground as dead wood for propagating
species diversity. Apart from the project’s area
of 8 ha the community has already placed 75 ha or
14.5% of the forested area of Liesberg under protection,
i.e. the trees are allowed to attain their natural
age – thank you!
A mighty pine in Derborence
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