A superlative effort

In the cool morning hours, we arrive at Hönggerberg with our fully loaded emergency vehicle. The team from the Altberg-Lägern forestry company is already on site and we discuss the day together. Because today is a superlative work assignment. Shortly afterwards, the 40 highly motivated employees of the Sika company arrive at Hönggerberg.

The aim of today is to combat the Buddleia, an invasive plant species. The Buddleia originally comes from China and was brought to Swiss gardens as an ornamental plant. The dense stands that can form outside of gardens displace our native flora and thus the food source of many insects and animals.

After the short introduction, we set off, equipped with hoeing scissors, branch shears and compost bags, to tackle the buddleia. Four teams work throughout the forest and find significantly more buddleia than you would expect at first glance. The deeper you go into the forest, the more hidden plants you discover.

Digging up invasive plants makes you hungry and the well-earned lunch break is very welcome. The arbeitseinsatz.ch team has prepared a large barbecue buffet with local and seasonal products. There are various sausages and grilled food, fresh vegetables with dips and of course coffee is not missing. But intellectual food is also provided. In a short specialist presentation, it is explained how the buddleia came to Switzerland, why it is so invasive and what everyone can do about it.

Strengthened, we return to work. Only a few buddleia escaped our eagle eyes in the morning. For this reason, young trees are stripped of brambles or individual protective covers in the afternoon. This way, the trees not only benefit from less competition from the buddleia, but also from more light and space.

We would like to thank the highly motivated Sika group for their commitment to the local forest and its biodiversity. We would also like to thank the film team from the FRUITJUICER agency for filming the day and for the great end result.