THE SWISS NATIONAL PARK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3775, 20 July 1926, Page 11

THE SWISS NATIONAL PARK.

PRESERVATION OF ALPINE FLORA AND FAUNA. (From the Gardeners’ Chronicle, May 1.) Everyone who knows Switzerland loves it and each of us who has learned to know the Swiss recognises that his admiration for that country is after all but a pale image of the intense affection and tine pride which the Swiss bestow on their lovely land. It is this common 'bond of feeling for natural beauty that makes a friendly kinship between the Swiss and ourselves. This love of country which inspires the Swiss—inspires them to sue purpose—for they are also a practical people. Recognising that this holiday ground of Europe, which draws such vast numbers of visitors to its mountains is in danger of losing some of its pristine charm, the Swiss have decided that one spot at least shall be saved from spoliation. One of the fairest of her provinces Switzerland has surrended, handing it back to the control of Nature. From that area of some 50 square miles, all interference with Nature is henceforth to be denied. Were he to revisit the earth and make once again his journey on foot from Chambery to Turin, Rousseau who did so much to turn mankind back to Nature, might be excused if he recognised his memorial in this great national park. No sound of gun will echo in that region, no new railway or road violate it. Fish may not be taken, nor plants dug up, even the tree which falls must be let lie. The woodcutter must ply his trade elsewhere and the "high pasturing kino” with their tinkling bells must be turned elsewhere to graze; for the produce of the soil is preserved for the animals native to the region. Those who wish to explore this sanctuary of Nature must be content with the shelter of Alpine huts—and whet joyous shelter iot the strong they are! In

no half-hearted wav, then, have the Swiss dedicated this plot of ground which stretches up through pasture and forest land beyond the tree limit of 2300 metres and beyond the snow line which lies at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet. Those who attended the Hooker lecture at the Linnean Society, given on April 15 by Professor Carl Schroeter of Zurich—than whom none knows more of the Swiss Alpine flora—had the great pleasure of hear, ing with what enthusiasm and thoroughness the Swiss have engaged in the preservation of the beauty of their land. The Swiss League for the Protection of Nature numbers 30,000 and largely as a result of its activities bird sanctuaries—2o in number—have been created in different districts. Promoters of railways for whom not even the Matterhorn is sacred have been thwarted ih their impious aims and that most beautiful of mountains is at all events to remain inviolate. It is the league also that with the support of the Swiss Government is providing financial means for the new kind of exploration to which this “letting in the jungle” will give rise. There are there woodland and grass land and Alpine heights; forests of Pinus Cera ora, mixed woods of Spruce and Larch tie endemic variety of Scotch Fire (Pinus sylvestris var. engadensins), and the laige tracts covered with the creeping mountain pine (P. montana var. prosprata); chrlk and granite are found there and east and west Alpine floras meet somewhere within the borders of this reserve of the lower Engadine, and there, too, are to be found chamois and marmot, deer and golden eagle. Already, during the 10 years of reservation, Nature has done good gardening work, a rich flora has developed in the abandoned pastures —and if richer than is used in Swiss pastures it must be indeed wonderful. All these changes which Nature is working are being followed stage by stage by a band of Swiss investigators and already a number of new forms of plants have been discovered ; for example, no fewer than seven plants have been found within the «now region, which were not previously known to occui there. It remains to be whether Nature will be found in the long r vfa capable of the management of this large estate re-vested in her. She used to manage the world ; and in a large way it was no doubt successful ; but even if one element of the fauna—the foxes for example—get out of hand, or the struggle between grassland and woodland leans too pronouncedly toward the latter, it will always be possible for the league to intervene and help Nature redress the balance.