Forest BE

BE is the abbreviation for the canton of Bern in Switzerland and is used to avoid confusion with other entries in the name Wald .

Forest

State :	Switzerland Switzerland
Canton :	Canton Bern Bern (BE)
Administrative district :	Bern-Mittellandw
BFS no. :	0888i1 f3 f4
Postal code :	3086, 3087
Coordinates :	602 518 / 192 407 coordinates: 46 ° 52 '58 " N , 7 ° 28' 18" O ; CH1903: six hundred and two thousand five hundred and eighteen / 192 40746.882775 7.471672 840
Height :	840 m above sea level M.
Height range :	640–973 m above sea level M.
Area :	13.30 km²
Residents:	1177 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	88 inhabitants per km²
Mayor :	Christian Neuenschwander (EDU)
Website:	www.wald-be.ch
Englisberg and Zimmerwald
Location of the municipality
w

Wald is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the Swiss canton of Bern . It was created on January 1, 2004 from the merger of the two previously independent communities of Zimmerwald and Englisberg .

geography

Municipal area

Forest is around 840 m above sea level. M. , 8 km south of the canton capital Bern (beeline). The sprawling community extends on the plateau of the northern Längenberg , in a panoramic location around 300 m above the level of the Gürbetal , in the higher Bernese Mittelland .

The area of the 13.3 km² municipal area includes a section of the Längenberg. The area was formed over by the ice of the Aar glacier during the Würm Ice Age and therefore shows largely rounded shapes and moraine deposits in various places . Only the extreme west of the forest area was not covered with ice and has a characteristic relief with numerous short notch valleys and protruding ridges (so-called harrows).

The eastern boundary of the municipality mostly runs on a moraine wall on the eastern slope of the Längenberg. From here, the municipality extends over the Zimmerwald plateau to the forest heights of Lisiberg (at 972 m above sea level, the highest point in the forest), Kühlewilwald and Englisbergwald ( 896 m above sea level ) to the Hubel ( 945 m above sea level) . M. ) before the steep drop to Ulmiztal. To the southwest the area extends over the valley system of the Scherlibach and the height of Tschuggen (up to 940 m above sea level ) to the Mättibach in the catchment area of the Bütschelbach (right inflow of the Schwarzwasser ).

In 1997, 7% of the municipal area was accounted for by settlements, 19% for forests and trees and 74% for agriculture.

Wald's neighboring communities are Kehrsatz , Belp , Toffen , Niedermuhlern , Oberbalm and Köniz .

Districts

The municipality of Wald consists of the following districts:

Englisberg ( 820 m above sea level , 377 inhabitants in 2000), in a valley between the Englisbergegg and the Englisbergwald, with the two hamlets

Kühlewil ( 830 m above sea level ) in a wide hollow west of the Englisberg Forest
Lower forest ( 872 m above sea level ) on the saddle between Kühlewilwald and Englisbergwald

Zimmerwald ( 840 m above sea level , 885 inhabitants in 2000) with the village center and the hamlets

Willishalten ( 830 m above sea level ) on the eastern edge of the plateau

At the church ( 856 m above sea level ) south of the village

Niederhäuser ( 782 m above sea level ) on the eastern slope of the Längenberg

Winzenried ( 757 m above sea level ) on a moraine wall on the eastern slope of the Längenberg

Upper forest ( 900 m above sea level ) on the edge of the Kühlewil forest

Waldhof ( 898 m above sea level ) at the height of the Längenberg

Obermuhlern ( 860 m above sea level ) at the height of the Längenberg in the headwaters of the Scherlibach

Egg ( 920 m above sea level ) on the southern slope of the Hubel

Bumishus ( 905 m above sea level ) at the height south of the Scherlibach valley

In addition, various farm groups and individual farms belong to the forest.

population

With 1177 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018), Wald is one of the smaller communities in the canton of Bern. 97.7% of the residents speak German, 0.6% French and 0.5% speak Italian (as of 2000). The population of Wald was 1085 inhabitants in 1850 and 1215 in 1900. During the 20th century, the population always fluctuated between 1170 and 1280 people. After a temporary increase to 1342 inhabitants in 1990, a downward trend has been recorded since then.

politics

The voting shares of the parties on the occasion of the National Council elections in 2015 were: SVP 38.9%, BDP 15.3%, SP 13.0%, GPS 7.8%, EDU 6.1%, glp 5.5%, FDP 5.1 %, EVP 4.3%.

Christian Neuenschwander ( EDU ) has been mayor since July 1, 2018 (as of March 2019).

economy

Until the second half of the 20th century, forest was predominantly an agricultural community. Even today, the dairy industry , cattle breeding and forestry have an important place in the income structure of the population. Numerous other jobs are available in local small businesses and in the service sector. Today, horticulture, electrical engineering, car garages and mechanical workshops are represented in Wald. The municipality's most important employer, however, is the Kühlewil retirement and nursing home, which was founded in 1892 as a poor relief institution in Kühlewyl . In the last few decades, the forest has developed into a residential community. Many workers are commuters who mainly work in the agglomeration of Bern.

traffic

The community is located off the main thoroughfares on a connecting road from Kehrsatz over the Längenberg to Riggisberg . Englisberg and Zimmerwald are connected to the public transport network through a post bus course , which covers the route from Wabern to Niedermuhlern.

history

The community of Wald was created through the merger of the previously independent communities of Zimmerwald and Englisberg on January 1, 2004. The new community took on the name of the school community of Wald, which had existed until then, which was borne by Zimmerwald and Englisberg. The name of the school refers to its location in the hamlet of Undere Wald .

Attractions

Zimmerwald Church was built between 1697 and 1699 after Zimmerwald broke away from the parish of Belp. Numerous characteristic farmhouses, stöckli and granaries in the Bernese style from the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved in all the villages and hamlets of the municipality. Especially in Obermuhlern there is a beautiful group of houses that were built after the village fire of 1780. The former restaurant, which belonged to the Beau-Séjour guesthouse in Zimmerwald, housed a museum for wind instruments until 2009, and since 2010 it has served as a private residence. The main building of the Beau Séjour guesthouse, the so-called villa, in which the Zimmerwald conference took place in 1915 , is now used as a residential building.

Personalities

Gottlieb Gruner (1756–1830), pastor in Zimmerwald, natural scientist and philanthropist
Bruno Messerli (1931–2019), geographer
Niklaus von Tscharner (1935–2016), civil engineer, mayor of Zimmerwald, president of the Society of Pfistern, civic council, director of the Kühlewil home
Katrin Streit-Eggimann, Grand Councilor
Kurt Theodor Oehler (* 1942), philosopher, psychologist, author
Rudolf Joder (* 1950), advocate, national councilor
Dominique Jann (* 1977), actor
Mark Streit (* 1977), ice hockey player
Peter Guggisberg (* 1985), ice hockey player
Judith Wyder (* 1988), orienteer