Protection forests are forests that mitigate or prevent the impact of a natural hazard, including a rockfall, avalanche, erosion, landslide, debris flow or flooding on people and their assets in mountainous areas.
A protection forest generally covers the sloping area between a hazard potential (e.g. an unstable rock cliff or an avalanche release zone) and the endangered or exposed assets.
In the Alps, protection forests are increasingly considered equal to engineered mitigation measures against natural hazards.
22 Schutzwald (1) The owner of a protection forest has to handle each place according to local conditions so that its preservation is as guaranteed as possible, with timely site-appropriate growth, solid internal structure renewal.
(3a) The owner of an protection forest site is obliged to carry out measures in accordance with para.