Project near Bayrischzell: Schwenden for alpine pastures and species protection


in the middle

Status: 04.10.2021 5:09 p.m.

The fact that trees and bushes grow in the Alps sounds like healthy nature. But if the growth is too abundant, the alpine pastures are threatened. Volunteers therefore help with Schwenden – felling for nature conservation.

Autumn is rushing time. When the young cattle, dairy cows, goats and sheep have been driven from the alpine pastures, then is the right time to clear mountain pines and bushes from the alpine pastures so that they do not overgrow. The farmers call this “schwenden”. And since the alpine farmers have less and less time for this hard work, there are now volunteers who help them.

With good reason: Because the open alpine pastures, which are so typical of the Alpine regions, are an important habitat for many endangered species, such as the black grouse.

Chainsaw instead of a mountain bike

This weekend, the area representative of the Upper Bavarian Mangfall Mountains, Florian Bossert, gathered volunteers from the Munich Mountain Rescue and the Munich Alpine Club.

You want to expose a lane between two pastures below the Aiplspitz, because the goats and young cattle that graze here from spring to autumn can hardly get through to the rear pasture. It threatens to turn into a grassy desert and gradually overgrown – as already happened on the area between the two pastures. The mountain pines have reclaimed the space between the two areas over the past few decades.

Florian Bossert, “Mangfallgebirge” area supervisor in the Miesbach district

Image: BR / Fuß

Almost 30 people came. With chainsaws and pruning shears, the volunteers gradually clear the connecting path. Volunteers already started the aisle for the animals last year. The work is hard. What the groups can do together over three weekends would take the alpine farmers five years. You can only swing in autumn, as no disturbances are allowed during the bird breeding season.

Global warming makes plants grow stronger

In the mountains from 1960 to 1991, the average temperature rose by around 1.6 degrees Celsius, especially in the summer half of the year. The vegetation phase starts three weeks earlier. This means that the food supply on the alpine pastures is increasing. But since no more cattle are driven up, the animals do not manage to graze the areas and thus keep the pastures open.

Conclusion: In the case of undergrazing, reforestation of the area begins. In the past ten years, around 1,800 hectares of alpine pastures have been lost. This corresponds to an area of ​​about 64 alpine pastures, calculates pasture specialist Siegfried Steinberger from the Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture.

The black grouse needs space

But the open spaces are important: for livestock, but also for many rare plants, insects and wild animals threatened with extinction. Like the black grouse, which is an example for many other threatened species. It needs the semi-open, structure-rich areas for its courtship and to find insects for the offspring.

Where it disappears because the open areas become overgrown, biodiversity generally declines. In order to prevent this, Florian Bossert relies on the help of the volunteers as area supervisor for nature and species protection in the Mangfall Mountains.

Florian Bossert explains to the volunteers which areas should be wasted.

Image: BR / Fuß

Swing fun

And they like to take part – not just because of the black grouse. They also want to preserve the open cultural landscape as they know it. With alpine huts where there is milk, soda and beer. And with the pastures, which make the landscape more interesting when you are out and about in the Bavarian mountains. And in the end, all participants said that it was fun, even if it was hard work.

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