Canton of Valais - New framework agreement

Canton of Valais / WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF / Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

The canton of Valais and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) signed today a new framework agreement, which will continue and develop their long-standing collaboration. The signing of this document coincides with the 20th anniversary of the research project investigating avalanche dynamics in the ”Vallée de la Sionne”.

The framework agreement was signed by the head of the canton's Department of Transport, Equipment and the Environment (DTEE), Jacques Melly, and WSL Deputy Director Christoph Hegg. It follows a first agreement signed in 1995, which focussed primarily on natural hazards, and under which the WSL launched research projects on avalanches and debris flows. The document signed today extends the scope of collaboration. Indeed, in it the canton undertakes to make the WSL its preferential partner for conducting research projects on the mitigation of natural hazards and to enable it to fulfil its mission of forest management, conservation and landscape enhancement. While these services have already been provided for several years, the new agreement places them within an official framework. For example, WSL scientists are closely monitoring forest dynamics following the fires at Loèche/Leuk and Viège/Visp. Various projects on pine decline have yielded consistent findings on the complexity of the phenomenon and provided answers about its underlying causes. Other projects are under way in the Bois de Finges/Pfynwald, aimed at understanding the impact of climate change on forests.

The agreement will be implemented via performance mandates, awarded as and when the need arises. The document does not formally commit the canton financially.

20 years of avalanche research in the “Vallée de la Sionne”

The signing of this framework agreement coincides with 20 years of research into the dynamics of avalanches in the ”Vallée de la Sionne”. The long-standing collaboration between the canton and the WSL prompted the opening in Valais of a cantonal branch of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), which is based in Davos. The latter operates a worldwide unique full-scale avalanche dynamics test site in the ”Vallée de la Sionne”, in the municipality of Arbaz. Organised to mark this anniversary, a colloquium for around 100 specialists at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO) in Sion, reported on the main results obtained, their practical implications and the questions that remain to be answered.

• Jacques Melly, State Councillor and Head of DTEE, phone 027 606 33 00
• Olivier Guex, Head of the Forest and Landscape Department (canton of Valais), phone 027 606 32 05 / 079 279 84 35