July 23 | Workcamp at Schatzalp

Workcamp at Schatzalp

As it has been for many years, eight volunteers from “Service Civil International” are currently working at Schatzalp.
During their two-week deployment, they are mainly active in the work against Lupins. This serves to preserve habitats, since the Lupins are considered invasive Neophytes from North America and like to overgrow entire areas. Therefore, they are dug up in places worthy of protection and cut back in other places before self seeding. In order to maintain biodiversity on the Schatzalp meadows, hand sickles and scythes are generally used instead of string mowers or brushcutters. This makes the manual work of the volunteers all the more important. The volunteers are also involved in weeding and sterilizing compost.
Some volunteers keep coming back, such as Ana, who has been at the Schatzalp for the first time in 2010 and is now doing her 3rd assignment. For her it is a special and magical place. “I love diversity and nature. That’s why such a garden should be preserved for at least 1000 years,” she says. She also enjoys the peace and quiet and that she can benefit from the wealth of knowledge in the Alpinum. In the team, she also gains an insight into other cultures, other generations and worlds of thought with which she otherwise has no contact in everyday life, she adds.