Forests Can Slow Down & Stop Avalanches

1st September 2025

A 50-year old study in Davos the Swiss Avalanche Research Institute SLF has reached the conclusion, but says the trees need to be significantly higher than the snow cover.

Researchers began planting around 92,000 Swiss stone pine, mountain pine and larch seedlings on a steep mountain slope in 1975.

The study is thought to be the oldest long-term experiment in avalanche management above the tree line in the world.

The researchers have observed 214 avalanches in the area.

In the early years, avalanches occurred regularly  as the trees were small.

In the 1990s, when the trees had reached twice the height of the snow cover, the number of avalanches decreased.

After that, there were significantly fewer avalanches and almost only in individual gullies, where most of the trees died early on.

See here for more

Avalanche sign. Image © PlanetSKI