**View of the hamlet of Ze Binne, which forms part of the commune of Binn. Postcard dating from around 1960.** Landschaftspark Binntal

Binntal: Finding traces of human culture in nature

People have been shaping the landscape for centuries. Even in seemingly remote areas such as the Binntal. How much of a mark have humans left on the natural environment?

Noah Businger

Noah Businger is a historian and a PhD student in Early Modern Swiss History at the University of Bern.

A narrow valley floor that is home to some 120 people, and steep slopes that flatten out above the treeline: at first glance, the Binntal is an Alpine valley much like any other. But this particular part of Valais is a highly prized destination, especially among nature lovers drawn to the area by its many rare minerals, abundant tranquillity and enchanting countryside full of low-lying moors, Alpine meadows, pine forests, glacier forelands, mountain lakes, debris cones and Alpine alluvial plains. On all the popular platforms, this landscape is described by visitors from around the world as ‘natural’, ‘untouched’ or ‘intact’. The Binntal is even entered in the Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments of National Importance (ILNM) as a “practically untouched Alpine valley”. But just how much of its natural environment is truly intact? Or, to put it another way: To what extent has the landscape in the Binntal been shaped by human activity?

**A peasant family in Schmidigehischere.** Valais Media Library – Martigny / Pierre Odier

Culture interacts with nature

A spectacular route leads into the Binntal from the neighbouring Goms district. A narrow road cut into the hillside winds its way through the steep rock faces of the Twingi Gorge. At first sight, it is hard to believe that people ever chose to settle beyond this more or less impassable terrain. Yet settle they did, apparently in defiance of nature. By creating paths and roads, humans have etched their presence into the landscape, created a space for themselves, conquered the Twingi Gorge and opened up the Binntal. The current road into the valley was only built in 1964, but people were already making their mark on the landscape long before this convenient form of access existed.

**Two women in Schmidigehischere.** Valais Media Library – Martigny / Pierre Odier

**A peasant woman with rake on the old route into the Binntal, postcard dating from around 1910. Ausserbinn, with its characteristic plots of arable land, can be seen in the background.** Martha Schmid, Ernen

The Binntal is one of the oldest inhabited areas in what is now Switzerland. Archaeological finds reveal that people settled here as early as the 4th century BCE. What led them to this remote spot all that time ago? Several passes towards the rear of the Binntal cross into Val Formazza in Italy, with the Albrun Pass playing a particularly important role. Having formed part of a trade route since the Stone Age, it continued to serve as the main access route between Upper Valais and northern Italy until the 15th century. The pass was a conduit for exchange. This was where goods were brought into and taken out of the valley. This was where people came and went from the valley, arriving first as Celts, then later leaving as Walser. For a long time, the Binntal was much more centrally located than we might think today.

**The stone bridge in Schmidigehischere was built in 1564 and is part of the old route over the Albrun Pass. Postcard dating from around 1920.** Ursula Imhof Ulrich, Baar/Binn

When the Celts settled in the valley, they began to reshape the natural landscape around them. Despite the narrowness of the valley floor, the Celtic peoples were able to work the land by migrating back and forth between the different altitudinal zones. Over time, the system of Alpine transhumance developed, and people have been moving between their farms on the valley floor, the middle pastures and the meadows higher up the slopes ever since. In doing so, they have intervened more and more in their environment, building routes to connect their places of production, practising intensive arable farming in the valley itself and cultivating rye for their own consumption at altitudes above 1,400 metres. They have cleared woodlands and created terraced slopes, subsequently rerouting watercourses to irrigate them and thus ensure that they had ample summer pastures for their animals and a sufficient supply of hay. These human activities have created a semi-natural cultural landscape. In environments like these, it is difficult to tell where the natural stops and the cultural aspects begin. But even though people have made use of the land in a way that appears natural, their gentle interventions have nevertheless created a cultural landscape. The Binntal is not ‘unspoilt’ or ‘in its natural state’: it is a delicately structured area that has been used and shaped by humans in various ways for centuries.

The Binntal can now be reached all year round thanks to the road tunnel. 1962 survey plan. — **The Binntal can now be reached all year round thanks to the road tunnel. 1962 survey plan** Staatsarchiv Wallis / Dienststelle für Mobilität

Should signs of human cultural practices be allowed to disappear from the landscape?

For centuries, land use in the Binntal barely altered. Life was something that mostly took place locally. The inhabitants lived and worked in the valley and grew their own food in this cultural landscape. However, life in the Binntal changed fundamentally in 1964 with the construction of the new road. For a long time, the only way to get from Ernen in the nearby Goms district to Schmidigehischere in the Binntal had been via a mule track that was highly exposed to the elements. It was not until 1938 that the first proper road into the valley was built, passing through the Twingi Gorge. But, like the mule track, it was susceptible to natural hazards. Avalanches, landslides, rockslides and rockfalls made the journey perilous and meant that the Binntal remained cut off from the outside world for several months in winter. This situation only changed in 1964, when the building of the new road consigned the most deadly section of the route to a tunnel. For the first time ever, the valley could be reached safely all year round. But the opening of the tunnel also changed the valley’s economy and management of its resources in one fell swoop. As people no longer needed to set aside supplies to see them through the winter, the number of farms gradually dwindled. Whereas there were still 25 professional farms from which people made a living in 1955, following the opening of the tunnel this number fell to five in 1994. Today, there are three farms remaining in the valley.

1975 report about life in Binn in winter, ten years after the opening of the road tunnel (in German). SRF

This decline also had an impact on the cultural landscape. The Binntal is suffering from encroachment of scrub and trees. The open areas are disappearing from the former arable land in the valley and especially from the pastures higher up the slopes. The land is no longer being worked, and there are no cows, goats or scythes to prevent the spread of bushes and trees. The Alpine meadows, with all their rich biodiversity, are vanishing. And the changes in the landscape also make the area less attractive as a tourist destination. Much of the Binntal has been a protected area since 1964. To avoid succumbing to the same fate as other mountain regions, following the opening of the road tunnel, the population decided it could live without mountain railways, holiday homes, the use of hydropower and further roads in an attempt to prevent the valley from becoming ‘urbanised’. Finally, in 2011, the Binntal Landschaftspark was granted Regional Nature Park status by the federal government, with the aim of preserving nature and the landscape while also promoting the valley’s sustainable development. Tourism, which relies heavily on the traditional cultural landscape, including the open farmland areas, has a key role to play here. Every possible effort is therefore to be made to prevent scrubland from taking over: it is hoped that mowing operations, the reintroduction of grazing, and volunteer work can preserve the open areas and remove the scrub that is already encroaching. People are once more going into the fields to clear them, but not as a matter of agricultural necessity as in previous times. Instead, they are seeking to conserve a certain appearance: that of a man-made landscape that is considered aesthetically pleasing.

**Extensive scrub encroachment on previously open pasture land can be seen outside the village of Imfeld.** Noah Businger

**Terraces formerly used as arable land in the settlement of Schmidigehischere are also turning into forest.** Noah Businger

A landscape shaped by human activity

The example of the Binntal demonstrates that humans have fundamentally altered the landscape, even in apparently isolated and tranquil mountain areas. In order to live and work and feed themselves, they have turned the local natural landscape ‒ over centuries ‒ into a multi-faceted, complex cultural landscape. This is a development that has been taking place in almost every mountain region throughout the Swiss Alps. The same is also true of today’s challenges. The days of self-sufficiency are over. People are no longer tied to their local environment when it comes to living, working and feeding themselves. In addition, the mountain regions in the Alps and their cultural landscapes have also become recreational areas. Tourism, the local economy, the risk of depopulation, and protecting biodiversity place different requirements on the landscape. People will continue to shape and reshape it in the future. The only question is: how?

More of: Protohistory Classical antiquity 20th / 21st century Tourism Transportation Nature

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