The Sihlwald is a

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

in the

Sihl Valley Sihl Valley (German: ''Sihltal'') is a river valley and belongs to the Zimmerberg-Sihltal region located in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Commonly ''Sihltal'' is used as the name of the Lower Sihl Valley, i.e. the are ...

of the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

canton of Zürich The canton of Zürich (german: Kanton Zürich ; rm, Chantun Turitg; french: Canton de Zurich; it, Canton Zurigo) is a Swiss canton in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton in the ...

. It is a rare example of a large-scale and original forest, situated on the eastern slopes of the Albis hills to the west side of the

Sihl river The Sihl is a Swiss river that rises near the Druesberg mountain in the canton of Schwyz, and eventually flows into the Limmat in the centre of the city of Zürich. It has a length of , including the Sihlsee reservoir, through which the river f ...

. Although the forest is owned by the

city of Zürich A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, it is situated outside the city boundary, within the municipality of Horgen and several adjoining municipalities. The Sihlwald now forms part of the Zürich Wilderness Park. The city of Zürich received the Sihl forest, or Sihlwald, as a gift in 1309 from the Hapsburgers and again in 1524 through the dissolution of the Fraumünster convent. Over the following centuries, the forest provided

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

with timber and firewood. From 1876 on, there was even a

forest railway A forest railway, forest tram, timber line, logging railway or logging railroad is a mode of railway transport which is used for forestry tasks, primarily the transportation of felling, felled logs to sawmills or railway stations. In most cases th ...

which facilitated the work in the forest. However, the trees have not been felled since the 1990s; this is due to the actions of forest director Andreas Speich, in order to preserve the forest's unique composition. On August 28, 2009, the

Federal Office for the Environment The Federal Office for the Environment (german: Bundesamt für Umwelt; french: Office fédéral de l'environnement; it, Ufficio federale dell'ambiente) is the Swiss environmental agency, a division of the Federal Department of Environment, ...

declared the Sihl forest a "regional nature park of national importance". The protection of Sihl forest was established through a forest reserve agreement in 2007 and a cantonal Protection Ordinance in 2008. In 2009, the management of the Sihlwald was combined with that of the nearby Langenberg Wildlife Park, to form the Zürich Wilderness Park. The forest can be reached via the

Sihlwald railway station Sihlwald is a railway station in the Sihl Valley, and the municipality of Horgen, in the Swiss Canton of Zürich. The station is on the Sihltal line, which is operated by the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU). The station takes its name from ...

, served by service S4 of the Zurich S-Bahn.

Picture gallery

Besucherzentrum Sihlwald.JPG, The Sihlwald visitors centre Kleiner Bach im Wildnispark Zürich-Sihlwald.JPG, A stream in the forest Sihlwald-1.jpg, View from Forest Nature Trail Sihlwald ramson 20200427 2.jpg, Ramson (allium ursinum) blooming

References

External links

*
Pages on the Sihlwald from the Wildnispark Zürich web site
(in German) Horgen Sihl 1309 establishments in Europe 14th-century establishments in Switzerland {{Zürich-geo-stub