Pfad der Pioniere 12: Schutzwald

In the case of rockfalls and debris flows, a healthy forest acts like a sieve. The trees slow down stones and debris, hold them back and spread them over a larger area. In this way, the forest protects settlements and roads in the valley. In the course of their development, pines and larches have formed a thick bark to protect them against these forces of nature.

In 1854, the sawmill in Surava in Plang la Rezgia burned down. Since it was not rebuilt, the avalanche protection forest was able to recover.  The sawmill was built by Katarina Manzi from Savognin about 10 years earlier. The municipality of Surava granted it the right to cut down and exploit all the trees from the border of Tiefencastel to Alvaneu Bad under the rock Bot Radond for twenty centimes. The timber was transported all the way to Italy by horse, and the sawmill ran day and night. In just ten years, the forest was cut bare except for the young growth. 

More about this in the book "Surava. Zeitdoikumente" by Guido Casutt.