Birmensdorf ZH/Los Angeles – A former civilian service worker at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research (WSL) has filmed a documentary about tree growth research. This was honored at a film festival in Los Angeles.
A film about research conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research(WSL) has won the award for Best Short Film at the Environmental Film and Screenplay Festival in Los Angeles, as detailed in a press release.
The film was shot during research work in the Lötschental valley in the canton of Valais by former WSL civilian service worker Raul Pfammatter. The film producer with his own company, Almafilm, visited the researchers and the Lötschental for a few days during filming to "gather impressions of the landscape and project staff."
The WSL Dendrosciences group, headed by Patrick Fonti, has found ideal conditions there for studying tree growth at different altitudes. The region offers valuable tree ring material for various types of dendrochronological studies as well as a perfect place to train young researchers. "The short film gives a great insight into our work and at the same time shows the splendor of the Lötschental. "To promote it, we entered it into an international competition - and lo and behold, we won first prize in our category," Fonti is quoted as saying.
The aim of the film documentation was to make the research work visible to the public. WSL, supported by local authorities and municipalities, has been studying the conifers in the Lötschental since 2007. Currently, measurement data on tree growth along an elevation gradient are being collected on permanent monitoring plots. ce/heg