Future Forest and Wood Central Switzerland

The forest makes a significant contribution to a healthy climate, produces oxygen and raw materials, fulfills diverse protective functions, and serves our population as a space for leisure and recreation. For various reasons—such as the steadily decreasing revenues from raw wood sales, the limited accessibility of forests, and in some cases the lack of management structures—Swiss forests, especially in the Alps and pre-Alps, have been managed less and less over the past 40 years.

A differentiation can be observed: in easily accessible forests with efficient management structures, forest management is being intensified, while in other situations it is being reduced or abandoned altogether. In these areas, trees grow older, the wood stock increases, forests lose stability, and they become more susceptible to weather impacts and insect infestations. In addition, not all tree species are equally able to cope with climate change.

It is undisputed that forests must be preserved and strengthened. In many cases, this is best achieved through targeted management, but for various reasons, this is often not efficient.

The sustainably usable forest wood potential, the optimal harvesting methods, the appropriate selective “upgrade” of infrastructure, and the costs of providing wood from Central Switzerland’s forests are currently only approximately known. To determine how much wood can be produced from Central Switzerland’s forests in the future and at what cost, the actual usable forest wood potential needs to be clarified.

Accordingly, within the framework of this project, the following questions are of particular interest, with reference to Central Switzerland:

• Wood use potential: Where, and in what quantities, can wood be harvested—with what proportion of hardwood and softwood, and what share of saw-timber versus non-saw-timber?
• Wood harvesting: With which harvesting methods can wood, given current accessibility, be provided up to the next truck-accessible road, and at what cost?
• Accessibility: How would harvesting methods and costs change if accessibility were selectively “upgraded” where possible and necessary?