Changes in Alpine Landscapes Resulting from a Decline in Land Use in the Val Grande National Park and Strona Valley - From Rural Landscape to Wilderness

As a consequence of depopulation and land use abandonment, large areas in the Piedmont Alps of Italy are developing freely through the processes of natural succession. Landscapes in the following areas are affected:

• the Val Grande National Park, which with the exception of its outermost areas is totally depopulated.
• the Strona Valley, which, following a significant decrease in population, today is only inhabited in the summertime.

In two case studies, the research project, which is supported by the Bristol Foundation in Schaan (Principality of Liechtenstein), is analyzing the effects of progressive land use abandonment on alpine landscapes, its inhabitants and users. It focuses on the following points:

• Characterization of the origins and development of alpine rural landscapes.
• Documentation of land use abandonment and its effects on the landscape and population.
• Analysis of future perspectives for the environment and society.

Strategies for the future development of structurally poor alpine areas will be developed as they relate to European policy for mountainous areas and the public discussion about the protection of natural successional processes and "Wilderness".

Objectives of the research project:

1. What influence does fallow land have on the structural and vegetation diversity of the alpine landscape?
2. To what extent has traditional land use made an imprint on the present landscape? Can relicts from the traditional cultural landscape still be found?
3. What are the consequences of leaving land idle for the population and visitors?
4. What perspectives exist for a revival of traditional types of land use?
5. What significance does "Wilderness" have in a historical context?
6. To what extent can traditional landscapes be conserved under changed economic conditions?
7. What perspectives for future development can be derived from the results of our research?
8. To what extent can these results be applied to other mountainous regions?

The project has two parts:

The described core project which was carried out in the villages of Premosello Chiovenda (Val Grande National Park) and Piana di Forno/Campello Monti (Upper Strona Valley),

a follow-up project which analyses the possibilies of a revitalisation of abandoned alpine pastures in the Portaiola Valley (Val Grande National Park, Malesco)

Two PhD-students and six master students involved in the project wrote their theses on the following topics:

PhD thesis:

• Susanne Lehringer: Consequences of depopulation and abandonment on a alpine landscape and its population - The case study of the Strona Valley in Piemonte (Italy)
• Franz Höchtl: Landscape development and "wilderness" in the Val Grande National park
  

Master thesis:

• Bettina Burkart: Development of wilderness on the basis of scientific inventories of the current vegetation status and cultural-historical analysis of Colloro's surroundings
• Christiane Eckert: Description of the land use change in the Piedmont region by means of the interpretation of aerial photographs
• Wolfgang Gemeinhardt: Description of the status and dynamics of forests in the upper Strona Valley
• Thilo Wolf: Vegetation and landscape development on Alpe Serena in the Val Grande National Park
• Tatjana Reeg: Tourism in remote alpine regions: Infrastructure and landscape change as viewed by visitors to the Strona Valley and Val Grande National Park
• Gerd Lupp: The myth of wilderness: inside view of the current debate surrounding wilderness in the Alps

A summary of the methods and results of the core project can be found here.

Partners:

Val Grande National Park, Verbania-Pallanza

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research ( WSL), Sottostazione Sud delle Alpi, Bellinzona

Further information about the study areas and their surroundings:

Initiative Pro Rimella

Centro di Documentazione Alpina, Domodossola

Municipality of Premosello Chiovenda

Municipality of Malesco

Study period of the projects:
Core project:	May 1999-June 2003
Follow-up project:	July 2003-July 2004
Financial support:	Bristol Foundation, Zürich; Interreg funds
Researchers:	Prof. Dr. Werner Konold
	Dr. Franz Höchtl, Dr. Susanne Lehringer