Be part of the mountain forest projects in Schaan and Trin

The Swiss Youth Hos­tels have been con­cerned about envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion since their very begin­ning. Sus­tain­abil­i­ty is an inte­gral part of their DNA. Togeth­er with the com­pa­ny, the non-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion now wants to inten­si­fy its envi­ron­men­tal efforts — through two project weeks in coop­er­a­tion with the Moun­tain For­est Project.

What is the Mountain Forest Project anyway?

The Moun­tain For­est Project was found­ed in 1987 as a non-prof­it foun­da­tion and is based in Trin GR, where there is also a youth hos­tel. The pur­pose of the organ­i­sa­tion is to pro­mote the con­ser­va­tion, main­te­nance and pro­tec­tion of the for­est and the cul­tur­al land­scape in moun­tain areas.

This is done in par­tic­u­lar through main­te­nance and ren­o­va­tion work in work assign­ments. But also by pro­mot­ing a pub­lic under­stand­ing of for­est issues. Vol­un­teers can car­ry out work assign­ments with­out pri­or knowl­edge and thus con­tribute to pre­serv­ing the diverse pro­tec­tive effects of the moun­tain for­est.

The results are impres­sive: Since the begin­ning, around 85,000 vol­un­teers have worked on the Moun­tain For­est Project in the moun­tain forests of Switzer­land, Ger­many, Aus­tria, Cat­alo­nia and the Prin­ci­pal­i­ty of Liecht­en­stein.

And what do the Swiss Youth Hostels have to do with it?

The two non-prof­it organ­i­sa­tions have already been work­ing togeth­er since 2017. This year a youth hos­tel was opened in the moun­tain for­est cen­tre “Mesagli­na” in Trin. It was and is a per­fect part­ner­ship, because both com­pa­nies focus on sus­tain­abil­i­ty in their actions and are com­mit­ted to extracur­ric­u­lar learn­ing – the best foun­da­tion for a long-term coop­er­a­tion.

Make a difference!

Every­one now has the chance to attend two project weeks free of charge. The first will take place from 23 to 29 April 2023 at the Schaan-Vaduz Youth Hos­tel.

Above the vil­lage, steep, unsta­ble moun­tain­sides con­sist­ing of marls and lime­stones stretch up to the “Three Sis­ters” mas­sif. Here, the for­est pro­vides vital pro­tec­tive func­tions against set­tle­ments and infra­struc­ture in the val­ley. In par­tic­u­lar, it pro­tects against rock­fall; in win­ter it inhibits avalanch­es and in the event of heavy pre­cip­i­ta­tion it acts like a sponge that slows down large mass­es of water. Your work dur­ing the project week will involve path con­struc­tion, fence con­struc­tion and main­te­nance as well as pro­tec­tive for­est main­te­nance. Overnight accom­mo­da­tion is pro­vid­ed at the Schaan-Vaduz Youth Hos­tel.

The sec­ond project week will be held from 13 to 19 August 2023 in Trin. Trin is locat­ed under a large pro­tec­tive for­est, which also pro­tects the road towards the near­by tourist cen­tres of Flims and Laax. Here, too, the focus is main­ly on path con­struc­tion, fence con­struc­tion and main­te­nance, as well as pro­tec­tive for­est main­te­nance.

… and why are we doing this?

The aim is, on the one hand, to con­tribute to the preser­va­tion and main­te­nance of the pro­tec­tive for­est above Schaan and Trin and, on the oth­er hand, to enable encoun­ters, activ­i­ties and expe­ri­ences out­side the usu­al envi­ron­ment. The Swiss Youth Hos­tels believe that in this way they are con­tribut­ing to a unit­ed, respon­si­ble and fun-lov­ing soci­ety.

Noch mehr nachhaltige Projekte

We vis­it­ed Out­door Ser­vice, prob­a­bly the most sus­tain­able tai­lor­ing com­pa­ny in Switzer­land.

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