Furttal: Maintenance work in the cantonal nature reserves

The Furttal is located on the south side of the easternmost foothills of the Folded Jura - the Lägern. The Furttal is home to numerous cantonal nature reserves of great value. Among other things, there are low moors rich in orchids, species-rich lean meadows and a kilometer-long old railway embankment, which has existed for decades as a connecting/networking natural jewel. In addition to numerous rare priority species of flora - e.g. bristly bellflower ( Campanula cervicaria ), Swiss elecampane ( Inula helvetica ), marsh gladiolus ( Gladiolus palustris ) or mountain aster ( Aster amellus ) - there are also many endangered animal species - e.g. midwife toad ( Alytes obstetricans) and smooth snake ( Coronella austriaca ).

On behalf of the Canton of Zurich's Department of Nature Conservation, the Nature Network is responsible for combating neophytes in all and for all maintenance work in around half of the cantonal nature reserves in the Furttal. In addition to many winter jobs such as woodwork (e.g. hedge maintenance), combating problem plants (e.g. Armenian blackberry, Rubus armeniacus ) or building small structures (e.g. wood piles, stone walls), we carry out countless operations in the Furttal from spring to autumn:

• Depending on the neophyte population, areas are searched once or several times for the plant species to be controlled.

• On individual valuable meadows at risk of bush encroachment, alder buckthorn ( Frangula alnus ) or grey alder ( Alnus incana ) are controlled annually with picks.

• In special operations, measures are implemented for various priority species (eg for the bristly bellflower). These can be, for example, bush clearing work or mowing with a hand scythe.

• Direct greening measures are implemented on newly created areas or to improve species-poor meadows. These include mowing and collecting the cuttings, collecting the seeds by hand on existing meadows and spreading the cuttings/seeds on the target areas.

• Ponds, ditches and very wet areas are maintained for the benefit of existing amphibian populations. This can be, for example, digging out a silting pond or clearing vegetation from a ditch.

• Special measures to promote rare species of fauna are also being implemented, for example, grass snake ( Natrix natrix ) egg-laying sites are being created using suitable litter cuttings.

• Countless meadows are mown once or twice a year with a scythe mower, brush cutter or hand scythe. The clippings are gathered together and removed by hand three days after mowing.