Forest Development and Changes in Stakeholders’ Demands in the High-Alpine Valley of Avers, Switzerland

Abstract

Alpine forests have been part of a pastoral landscape in many regions for centuries. In the nineteenth century, a professional forestry service developed, and the local needs for specific forest uses were supplemented by non-local actors with their specific interests. Using the example of an Alpine valley in Switzerland, the development of the different demands of the stakeholders and their effects on forest development were analysed using an interdisciplinary multi-source approach. Forest history studies contribute to a better understanding of the development of the current situation and provide an important basis for the search for sustainable forest utilisation concepts for the future.