“We’ve realised that silver firs are dying off,” says forester Thomas Studer, head of the Leberger forestry business in the canton of Solothurn. Around 30 percent of the silver firs, well over 1000 trees, had to be felled.

Studer puts this down to the extreme lack of precipitation in recent years. “The trees haven’t received as much water as they need. They’re almost dying of thirst,” according to his sobering conclusion. The silver fir was long considered “climate-proof” as its roots run relatively deep, but last summer was apparently too much for the trees. “We’ve done nothing since last autumn but fell these dying trees in the forest,” said the forester.

Based on AvS
Translated by Justine Hewson