Are there any rules on picking up twigs, kindling and small branches that have fallen down in the forest, obviously someone must own this land, but is it acceptable practice. I am not talking about cutting branches, but helping yourself to some dead wood on the ground. Basically I want to get some wood to help start a wood fire. Secondly, where is the best place to look for logs.

Hi telandy

as you suspected this forest belongs to somebody so just helping yourself to it may go unnoticed, is technically illegal though. If you have local farmers around they're usually helpful if people show interest and ask instead of grab and run. Most forest owners I know go there as little as possible, too much work and no return anyway despite the risk of accidents. But if they see somebody just helping themself to their precious wood..

For bulk quantities turn to the local forester, we usually bought ours from the commune. Door delivery included . Be sure to agree on the size you can use, we had to split ours first. Storage is another issue, usually you're supposed to keep it in a dry place for at least one year, ask to be safe. Coop and Migros of course sell it too but for more than a decorative use a little expensive..

This is a very good "manual", sorry german only (although there is lots of pics in the pdf). It helps reduce the amount of PM10 (Feinstaub, very fine dust smaller 10micron) produced during the start of the fire:

http://www.baudirektion.zh.ch/intern...izen_holz.html

And guess what, according to this you don't need any twigs. Instead they use a so called "Anzündhilfe" made out of wood wool that was soaked in wax.

Rahip

Don't pick wood off the floor, take air-dried wood hanging from the branches. Not the branches themselves, mind. Look up and you'll see dead wood everywhere in the trees, especially at this time of year.

The wood on the floor is usually no good for getting fires going; it's damp; it's home to tiny ecosystems etc.

Use pine cones to start a fire: nature's firelighters, full of resin. Also there are loads of willowy grasses which have cottonwool like buds: these are perfect.

Smoke no good

First the legality, you don't have a right to cut trees, but you do have a right to access, and to consume. You can collect mushrooms for personal eating, but not commercially. (Mushrooms should be taken for official ID, BTW, but that's another question).

As the previous poster said, wood off the floor is often damp, so doesn't make good kindling. Any wood stacked up in little walls and covered with tarpaulin is obviously there to dry out and be sold, so you shouldn't touch that. But any wood that is lying around can be taken and burned. Some forest owners even encourage this because the fallen rotting wood can harbour Borkenkaefer, which are boring insect that live in both dead wood and will then swarm and attack living healthy trees.

In 7 years of prolific grilling, I've never had anyone complain at collecting fallen wood.

More importantly is where you light your fire. IMHO, middle of the woods is not really OK. There are many fixed fir pits, or steel or concrete fire palces already set up. Often near fountains and water sources. Sometimes with benches and tables. Theses are the best place because the area around the fire has had all the subterranean fire conductive matter already burned out, so the risk to the forest is minimised. One forester I spoke to was quite worried on this point. He said he prefered it if people would light their fire in the middle of the forest track (where very few roots penetrate) rather than to one side of the track in humous soils.

So, collect your wood (maybe you have to walk 100m from the fireplace to find a nice bunch, or fallen sapling) and have a grill. It's one of the nicest things about outdoor life here.

Swiss common law allows picking up wood from the floor. This is an age old right as is access to woods for everybody.

My kids love fires in the woods. You just have to leave everything as you found it and make sure the fire is not burning.

Kind regards

Christian

I think there might be a misunderstanding, I never meant to say that you can't, shouldn't or are not allowed to pick up wood to make a fire in the forest.

I thought the thread starter referred to indoor heating purposes where obviously one needs bigger amounts over the season.

Fire on!

Rahip

That's a good point – there are many signs in the forests and files in the internet that ask the visitor to only use the official fireplaces.

Can you point me to a legal reference for this? (My google skills seem to be lacking... )

Does this mean, were I to purchase a forest property - zoned agricultural, not buildable - that I would not be allowed to restrict access to the property?

(There goes one idea on how to give the mutts safe room to run... )

Description in English
Law in German

Forests and agricultural zones are different categories as far as I know.

Not only would the title or lease prevent restricting access, but it would lay out the measures you would have to take to ensure that the public had access (namely the maintaining of throughways and access points). You also have to maintain the woodland according to local rules - taking on a piece of forest is quite a responsibility.

As for the hounds, local laws usually require that dogs are kept on the lead in woods and forests.

Thanks for the info, Nathu and Swissbob.

The property I was looking at is listed as Landwirtschaft, but I guess I'll have to ask the Grundbuchamt to see the exact zoning regs. It's a wooded parcel, not a pasture.

No wonder the price seemed unbelievably low...

I was hoping to find some private land to set up an enclosed exercise area... back to the drawing board...

Is that like a self contained copse? Not part of a large wood or forest? Surrounded by fields? open to invasion by livestock? Sounds like a fence would be ok.

I'd guess it would be deemed a forest.

It's a parcel containing a clearing (that's the part I'd enclose), a stream and a heavily wooded area within a larger forest - I have no idea who owns the rest of the forest.

The forest is located in between meadows/farmland; the meadows are used as pasture land. There are no official Wanderwege through the parcel, but there is an access road on the boundary line. (The parcel owner becomes part owner of the access road).

It's probably worth investigating further, but if there are public access rights to the parcel it would be a non-starter for my purposes.

I'm always amazed at the scope of collective EF knowledge!


And now, back to gathering kindling...