2 From Alpine Lakes to Inneralpine Forests – A transboundary trail across LTER sites in Italy and

The trail will take place in the Central , between the Ossola valley, Italy, and the Canton in Switzerland. The trail will connect the LTER site Lake Paione Inferiore, in the Bognanco Valley, to the LTER site Visp through the Simplon Pass, travelling along the Stockalper Route, an ancient trade path between Italy and Switzerland. Trail characteristics: The trail will be entirely on mountain path, at altitude between 700 and 2400 m a.s.l. The LTER sites connected by the trail will be an aquatic site (high altitude lake) and a terrestrial site (Inneralpine forest). Research at these sites are mainly devoted to the long-term impact of anthropogenic activities on mountain ecosystems, including climate change. The trail will travel through landscapes of high nature value but also with a great cultural and historic relevance (Stockalper Route, Ecomuseum Simplon). Activities: At the starting site (Lake Paione Inferiore), an open-day will take place on September the 2nd, when researchers of the CNR Institute of Ecosystem Study will involve the participants in field activities on the lake (sampling, monitoring). On September the 3rd, the trailers will arrive in Simplon Dorf through the Monscera Pass and the day after to Visperteminem, through the Bistinenpass e Gibidumpass. The traill will end on September the 5th at the LTER site Visp, with an excursion to the site, open to the public, to show the research activities performed by the WSL (Swiss Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape). During the trail, public seminars will be organised, to show the importance of long-term ecological research, in particular for mountain environments. Observations of natural elements (flora and fauna) will be performed, also trough apps for mobile devices. Contacts: Michela Rogora, CNR ISE ([email protected]); Aldo Marchetto, CNR ISE([email protected]); Peter Waldner, WSL ([email protected]), Marcus Schaub ([email protected]).

Stages A –Lage Paione Inferiore B – Simplon Dorf C – Simplon Pass D – E – Visp Itinerary

Stages A – Lake Paione Inferiore B – Simplon Dorf C – Simplon Pass D – Visperterminen bus E – Visp trail

Arrival/Departure/Shortcuts Arrival: From Domodossola, the starting point (San Bernardo) can be reched by car or eventually by bus (bus to San Lorenzo, then by foot to San Bernardo). Departure: The trail ends at the train station ‘Visp’. Shortcuts: Locations B, C, D can be reached by bus, there is a funiculare/Seilbahn from Giw to Visperterminen.

Nature of the Trail The trail will be entirely on mountain path, at altitude between 700 and 2400 m a.s.l., including typically 5 to 7 hours of walking per day.

Accomodation and lunch Overnight stays can be pre-arranged in a Rifugio (2./3. Sept, EUR 45 .-/Pers.) including dinner and breakfast and in two simple dormitories in Simplon Dorf (3./4., about CHF 25.-/Pers.) and in Visperterminen (4./5., about CHF 25.-/Pers.) where dinner and breakfast can be taken in nearby restaurants (not included). The dormitories are equiped with beds and woollen blanket, need to be cleaned by ourselves and simple sleeping bags are required (Leintuchschlafsack, sacco lenzuolo). Lunch has to be brought and carried. There is possible to buy e.g. bread in Simplon and Visperterimen. Overnight stay can also be arranged in Domodossola on 1 September for people taking part to the introduction event .

Recommended Equipment Identity card, EUR/CHF; Complete Trekking equipment including mountain boots, sun creme, hat, jacket and trousers for wind and rain protection, warm clothes, first aid kit; lunch and bottle for drinking water; simple sleeping, toilet articles; swimming cloths; literature and apps on flora and fauna; …

Saturday 1. Sept, 21:00: Kick-off event in Domodossola, Collegio Rosmini, open to the public, in cooperation with SSNVCO

Sunday 2. Sept San Bernardo – Lake Paione Inf. Starting from San Bernardo (car park), tra trail will reach the lower of the three Paione lakes. Stops will be done during the trail for botanical observations. The activities at the lake will be opened to the everybody and will be organised in cooperation with the associations Letteraltura and Società di Science Naturali del VCO. At the end of the open-day, the participants to the trail will go back t San Bernard to pick up their luggage and start the trail to Rifugio Gattascosa.

Itinerary 9.30 Meeting in in San Bernardo (eventual meeting in Domodossola at 8-8:30) 9:30-11:00 San Bernardo – Lake Paione Inferiore ~ 11-11:30 Reading on mountain lakes by the Association Letteraltura 11:30-13:30 Observations, sampling activites etc. on the lake 13:30 Lunch 15:00 end of the activitires – route back to San Bernardo 16:00 – 17:30 San Bernardo – Rif. Gattascosa 19:30 Dinner at the Rifugio

Accomodation Rifugio Gattascosa http://www.rifugiogattascosa.com/.

Distance: 9 km D+ 800 m D- 400 m

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1 Monday 3. Sept Monscera Pass – Simplon Dorf

Starting from Rif. Gattascosa, the trail crosses the border at the Monscera PASS and leads through the valley Zwischenbergen, with its Larch and Pine tree forests, and over the pass Furggu to Gabi. There, optionally, the bus can be taken to Simplon Dorf. The path partly follows the historical Stockalper route.

Itinerary 1 ~7:00 Breakfast ~8:00-10:00 Rif. G. – P. d i Monscera - Zwischenbergen 10:30-12:30 Zwischenbergen - Furggu 13:30-16:00 Furggu – Gabi 16:25-16:34 Postauto Gabi – Simplon Dorf ~17:00 Dinner at Restaurant 19:00 Presentation at Ecomuseum 3

Accomodation Schulhaus, dormitories. Historical Route In the 17th century, Stockalper established a trade and transportation route from Brig in the Vallais to Domodossola in Italy. https://www.ecomuseumsimplon.ch/wege-und-strassen/stockalperweg

Distance: ~ 12.5 km D+ 1000 D- 1500 4

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Locations 4 1 – Rif. Gattascosa 2 2 – P. di Monscera 3 – Zwischenbergen 4 – Furggu 3 1 5 – Gabi 6 6 – Simplon Dorf, Post ©mapdata: geo.admin.ch Foto: gemeinde-simplon.ch Tuesday 4. Sept Simplon - Visperterminen

After reaching Niwen by bus, the path climbes over the Bistinen- and the Gibidumpass, through alpine grass land, the sources of the water channels ‘Suone’ and down to Visperterminen. Itinerary 1 7:00 Breakfast 8:42-8:52 Postauto from Simplon Dorf, Post to Niwen 9:00-11:30 Mountain path Niwen (1900) – Bistinenpass (2417) 2-2.5 h upwards ~11:30-12:00 Lunch (individual) 12:00-14:30 Bistinenpass (2417) – Gibidumpass (2200) 2 a) through Nanztal (2400 – 1835 - 2200) b) along the Suone (10 km) 14:30 Gibidumsee. 15:00-17:00 Gibidumpass (2200) – Visperterminen (1300) Option for from Giw to Visperterminen: Funiculare operating from 15:45 to 17:30. ~18:00 Dinner at Restaurant 20:00 Presentation at Haus Tärbinu Accomodation Ferienhaus Tärbinu, dormitories. Restaurant Heida (individual)

Distance: ~ 13.5 km 4 D+ 1000 D- 950

5 6 7 3 1 Locations 1 – Niwen 2 – Bistinen 3 – Nanztal 4 – Start Suone 5 – Gibidum 5 6 – Visperterminen 7 – Funicular1545-1730 4 ©mapdata: geo.admin.ch Wednesday 5. Sept Visperterminen – Visp

On this day, the trail leads us along side the water paths ‘Suone Bodmeri’ at the upper edge of the Eyholz and through the forest ‘Tellwald’ to the LTER Site Visp a drought exposed pine forest at the Grauberg close to Visp. 2 Itinerary 7:00 Breakfast 7:30-8:00 Joint cleaning of ‘Ferienhaus Tärbinu’ 8:00-12:00 Trekking Visperterminen – Visp 1.5 h up to Gugla, 2-2.5 h down to Visp 12:00-13:00 Lunch before or in Visp (individual) 3 13:00 Meeting Point Visp Landw./S. Blatter 13:15-16:00 Excursion to LTER site Visp 16:30 FIN

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Locations 1 – Haus Tärbinu 2 – Suone Bodmeri 3 – Eyholz Fire 2011 1 4 – Tellwald reserach 5 – Meeting point 6 – LTER site Visp

7 – train station Visp ©mapdata: geo.admin.ch Wednesday 5. Sept Excursion LTER Site Visp

Research plot at Grauberg in Visp The research plot Visp was installed in a Pine (Pinus sylvestris) forest on the northern slope of the valley in 1996 to investigate the effects of environmental factors on forests. The precipitation amount on close to the vally bottom low (about 600 mm) and episodically the trees were in bad shape and mortality high. Main questions were: • How is the precipitation related to growth and survival of the trees? • Are there other reasons (insects, nutrients) why the trees suffer and how do they interrelate?

The meteorology, deposition, soil water content, tree growth, crown condition has been regularly monitored. Since installation there were pine mortality waves in 1997, 2003, 2016 letting disappear about 70% of original stand while a shrub layer (e.g. Berberize) established.. Results suggest, that shortages of available water in the soil where the main cause for elevated mortaility. The shortages were due to low precipitation, but also to higher temperature and understory vegetation causeing higher transpiration rates. On the plot, we will visit the installations and carry out selected measurements .

Itinerary Networks This LTER plot is part of the Swiss long-term forest 13:00 Landwirtschaftl. Schule Visp ecosystem research programme LWF wich is the Swss 13:15 Walking, ca. 30 min. part of the Level II plot network of the International 13:40 LWF plot Visp Cooperative Programm on Asssessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effets on Forests (ICP 16:00 Walk to Railway station Forests) with several hundred plots in Euopre. 16:30 Bahnhof Visp www.wsl.ch/lwf www.icp-forests.net

Klima & Wasser & Nährstoffe & Waldzustand & Artenvielfalt & -änderung Trockenheit Luftbelastung Wachstum Biodiversität

Nass- Trocken- Baumhöhe depositiondeposition Kronen- Blattproben transparenz Kronen- Visuelle austausch Symptome Nieder- Kronen- schlagSaftfluss traufe Streufall Wetter- Niederschlags- Insekten- Regensammler Vertex station wippe 1 2 Mortalität 4 falle 6 Brust- Boden- Mykorrhiza Saft- Streu- Tensio- Ozon- Höhen- vegetation Lysimeter Gaswechsel meterfluss sammler monitor Umfang (BHU) Streuabbau Dauerquadrat Boden- Boden- lösung feuchte 6 7 Versickerung Auswaschung

5 Locations 5 – Meeting point 6 – LTER site Visp 7 – train station Visp