DFB Dampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke AG
Postfach 141
CH-6490 Andermatt |
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+41 41 888 00 40
+41 848 000 144 |
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An area of national importance
On your walk along this trail you have experienced a
varied landscape where the stream can expend its energy, freely sculpting its
bed. You have also seen for yourself that the freedom of the Rotten ends next
to the hotel. There are other areas of the glacier foreland, too, where human
interference becomes evident. The outermost end moraine of 1600, for example,
was sacrificed to the Furka Railway. Excessive cattle grazing, intensive
touristic use, and the construction of roads are threats to the varied and
often very sensitive vegetation. In comparison with other glacier forelands,
this one has escaped the worst: inundation by reservoirs; rivers completely
tamed by channelization or water intakes; touristic installations that ruin the
view; the loss of whole moraines to ruthless gravel mining, etc.
The
foreland of the Rhone Glacier has been spared such massive intervention. Many
parties realized the value of this area. The valley floor of Gletsch is an
alluvial zone of national importance. Since 1992, it has been listed in
the Federal Inventory of Alluvial Zones of National Importance. This Inventory
has been complemented by IGLES, the Inventory of Glacier Forelands and Alpine
Alluvial Plains. In 1998 experts deemed the entire
foreland of the Rhone Glacier so valuable that it has
been ranked in the highest category.
Please help us conserve this alpine
alluvial zone. Stay on the trails. Remember, the wetlands are especially
fragile. Take home some wonderful memories, photos, and your trash, but please
leave the plants intact.
By restricting your walk across the glacier
foreland to the trail described above, you allow the valuable animal and plant
species to develop undisturbed in the farther reaches of the valley floor. We
hope you enjoyed your walk and will come again! |
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Tourist information is available at:
Verkehrsverein Obergoms
3999 Oberwald, Switzerland
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| © Swiss Foundation for Landscape Conservation (SL/FP) |
