The wounds will heal, but the scars will remain …
A deep scar runs through the valley. It will take generations for it to heal. But just as with a wound, the first steps taken after the event have a decisive impact on the healing process that follows.
For centuries, the cultural landscape of the Lötschental Valley has been shaped by the interplay of human activity and natural processes. Arable plains, gently sloping terraces, and easily accessible hillsides have been cultivated as fields, meadows, and pastures. In between, mountain forests, streams, scree slopes, and wild natural areas have been preserved.
Especially on the sunny side of the valley, the forest was pushed back over generations to make room for settlements, cropland, and pastureland. The steeper, shaded side, on the other hand, served primarily as hay meadows and pastureland. This is how the diverse cultural landscape that still characterizes the Lötschental today came into being.
This is also evidenced by the numerous barns and stables found wherever valuable meadowland was cultivated. These small, sun-kissed wooden structures at the forest’s edge, surrounded by golden-yellow larch trees in the fall, have contributed significantly to the valley’s distinctive and romantic landscape.
The Forest Reclaims Its Space
The construction of the valley road helped slow the exodus and stabilize the population in the long term. At the same time, however, part-time farming declined steadily. Many areas were no longer used regularly, allowing forests and shrubs to spread rapidly, especially on the sunny valley slopes.
Today, significantly larger forested areas shape the appearance of the Lötschental than they did fifty years ago. The landscape is in a state of constant flux between human use and natural reclamation.
The interplay of mountain forests, pastures, hay meadows, streams, scree and avalanche cones, as well as the striking terraced terrain between Tennmatten, Ried, and Blatten, has given this section of the valley a unique character.
Can a cultural landscape be planned?
The area buried by the landslide covers approximately 2.5 km². By comparison, this corresponds to nearly 3 percent of the area of the municipality of Blatten or 17 percent of the area of the municipality of Wiler. Unfortunately, the areas most affected are those that were particularly well-suited for settlements and agricultural use.
In addition, important transportation links within the valley were destroyed, as were the access routes to the hamlet of Weissenried and the Alpe Tellin. In the Tennmatten area, the Blatten municipal wastewater treatment plant was damaged, and all infrastructure lines between Ried and Blatten were lost.
The responsible authorities agree that the future development of the buried area must not be left to chance. The goal is holistic planning that involves all key stakeholders. Together, they will determine where agriculture can be practiced again in the future, where locals and visitors can move about and relax, and which areas will be deliberately left to natural processes.
Forests, pastures, terraces, habitats for animals and plants, new floodplain landscapes, and settlement areas will all be part of a new cultural landscape. Together, they will help ensure that the wound left by the landslide can heal over time.
At the same time, developments in the landslide area are also of great interest to the scientific community. The changes in the landscape, ecosystems, natural hazards, and reconstruction processes offer numerous avenues for research. Thus, although stemming from a tragic event, a unique study area is emerging where experts from a wide range of disciplines hope to gain valuable insights.