ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to describe the co-evolution of forestry and tourism in the Swiss Alps and assesses the need for changes in relationships between the two sectors and propose mutually-benefidal changes. The forests of the Swiss Alps were, mainly owned by local people, either as individuals or as members of communes and cooperatives. Tourism has provided jobs which offer equal or better remuneration and benefits for less physical effort than jobs in forestry. In 1984 and 1985, the commune voted to employ three full-time foresters, subsidize forestry roads, and pay for the management of all forests in the area, whether owned by individuals or the commune. As financial and human resources have been, and are, increasingly diverted from forest management and utilization to providing services in the tourist sector, the development of mountain tourism may paradoxically be endangering its future.
