Intercantonal long-term forest inventory: inclusion of silver fir in the monitoring programme

The intercantonal long-term forest inventory is a cooperation between 13 Swiss cantons (AG, BL, BS, GR, LU, NW, OW, SO, SZ, TG, UR and ZH), which has been analysing the status of the main Swiss tree species beech, spruce and oak in around 200 forest stands for over 40 years. Due to increasing drought and heat events, more and more spruce areas on the central plateau have been abandoned since 2018. The intercantonal programme management has therefore decided to include silver fir (Abies alba) in the monitoring from 2024/25 in order to learn more about the development of this important tree species under future climate conditions.

Additional innovations will be tested as part of this transition:

• Method test: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measurements expand wet chemical soil analyses
• Digital recording: application and evaluation of the new Swiss soil and humus classification and its digital recording in the field
• Field work on forest soils: efficient sampling, analysis and evaluation of forest soil samples

• Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Switzerland
• Institute of Applied Plant Biology (IAP), Switzerland

• Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) - Research and consultation

• Steffens Markus (Department of Soil Sciences)

• Summerauer Laura (Department of Soil Sciences)

Project partner

• Soil fertility & Climate (Department of Soil Sciences, FiBL Switzerland)