Fascination mountain forest

The contents at a glance

A true connoisseur of the Alpine mountain forest will become a "ranger" in the Valsertal nature reserve for two days: Siegfried Ellmauer, forester, forest and Alpine pasture expert and teacher at the Schule der Alm, will hold one of his rare seminars here in the Valsertal. In 2025, there will be a basic course and - for the first time - an advanced course.

In the basic course , Siegfried will start from the cultural history of the forest, which is manifested in the forest knowledge of the ancient Celts and their sacred groves, the North American Wood Indians and the woodcutter culture in the Alpine region. On the basis of "mindful forest culture", the respectful treatment of natural resources, he introduces you to the mysterious inner processes of the forest. How does a tree function throughout the year? What is the significance of the mountain forest? And what makes the mountain forest a "special forest" with high biodiversity and invaluable for nature conservation? Siegfried Ellmauer will give you answers to these questions.
In an exciting practical part, you will learn about nature-friendly forestry work in the mountain forest. No noisy chainsaws will be used, but traditional tools such as axes, saws, debarkers and more. All work steps "from tree to firewood" - from felling the tree to sawing up the trunk to the stove-ready logs - are practiced in practice.  

In the advanced course, the knowledge of forest heritage is deepened. It then looks at the working world of Alpine woodcutters with their forest huts and tree cults as well as the culture of the North American Wood Indians. In the practical section, Siegfried looks at the treasures of the forest and how you can use them in your kitchen and medicine cabinet. The disappearing forest professions from great-grandfather's time are also explained. If you like, you can try out all the steps from "tree to timber" using traditional tools. Siegfried also demonstrates the 3000-year-old Celtic craft of shingle making and everyone can make their own wooden shingles.