Locarnese National Park Will Not Come

"It is good for nature and the environment, but also for the villages and valleys, because it gives them a future," said Elvio Della Giacoma, mayor of Brissago, ahead of the vote.

Editorial team Wild beim Wild — June 10, 2018

After militant hobby hunter gangs from Ticino had campaigned aggressively against the project in the run-up to the June 10, 2018 vote on a second national park in Switzerland, common sense was unable to prevail.

At the end of November 2016, voters in the cantons of Graubünden and Ticino had already rejected at the ballot box a national park around the Rheinwaldhorn, the Park Adula. At that time too, the short-sighted hobby hunters were largely opposed and stirred up negative sentiment with fear-mongering and disinformation.

National Councillor Fabio Regazzi (CVP) and president of the Ticino hobby hunter associations (FCTI), with around 3’100 active hunters in the canton, of whom 700 reside within the proposed national park, were now also almost unanimously opposed to a «Nationalpark Locarnese» and thus opposed to innovation, future prospects for young people, and the common good.

These militant hobby hunter gangs created an aggressive and hostile atmosphere in the lead-up to the vote, dividing an entire region and community with their vague and divisive ideology.

Switzerland will therefore not get a second national park, at least not in the near future: in the canton of Ticino, voters in eight municipalities rejected the creation of the «Nationalpark Locarnese» with 4’279 No votes against 4’170 Yes votes.

Of the eight municipalities in the Centovalli and Valle Maggia region, only two voted in favor of the national park, while six voted against it. In doing so, they left the involved municipal councils out in the cold, given that all eight municipal governments had previously come out in support of creating a national park. Ascona and Bosco Gurin voted in favor of the park. Brissago, Centovalli, Losone, Onsernone, Ronco sopra Ascona, and Terre di Pedemonte voted against it.

Even during the extremely passionate referendum campaign, it had become clear that the project would have a difficult time at the ballot box. With this, the hobby hunters have claimed a victory. They had feared an expansion of the hunting ban and other restrictions.

Which once again proves that meaningful animal and nature conservation work on a large scale is incompatible with hobby hunters. – IG Wild beim Wild

The Locarnese National Park would have been roughly the same size as the canton of Zug. For various reasons, mass tourism will never take hold in the region. The area appeals to people who enjoy hiking and respect nature and wildlife.

In addition to boosting the region's tourism image, the directorate of the national park estimated that over the next 10 years, 250 to 300 million francs could have been generated through the creation of around 200 direct and indirect jobs.

«It is good for nature and the environment, but also for the villages and valleys, because it gives them a future», said Elvio Della Giacoma, mayor of Brissago, ahead of the vote. The territory would be upgraded, and the exodus from the valleys could potentially be stopped. Once again, the hobby hunters have spoiled this for the collective. And this, despite the fact that in 10 years there could have been another vote on the park and its success story.

The Locarnese region is characterized by a remarkable diversity of landscapes and cultural spaces. Nature is shaped by a wide variety of climate zones that follow one another over short distances. Between the Brissago Islands, the lowest point of the planned national park at 193 meters above sea level, and the 2,864-meter-high Wandfluhhorn (Pizzo Biela) above Bosco Gurin, there are only 35 kilometers. Such a rich landscape and nature, combined with a vibrant and tradition-rich culture, is rarely found in Switzerland, let alone in a comparatively small area. The park would have united regional development and nature conservation under one roof.

Italy has 24 national parks, Germany has 16. In Switzerland there is only one – the Swiss National Park established in 1914 in the Engadin.