Nature

The Park is home to two reserves, managed by Pro Natura.

Vanil Noir Reserve
The Vanil Noir area is a Pre-Alpine landscape of outstanding beauty, home to a highly diverse range of flora and fauna. It is listed in the Federal Inventory of Landscapes, Sites and Natural Monuments of National Importance (IFP) as well as in the Federal Inventory of Wildlife Refuges (ODF).

La Pierreuse Nature Reserve
The La Pierreuse reserve (south of Château-d’Œx) is a nationally significant alpine landscape featuring varied scenery — rocks, pastures, marshes, and spruce forests — along with exceptionally rich flora and diverse fauna, including ibex, chamois, eagles, and capercaillies.

Despite centuries of human settlement and the systematic clearing of land suitable for livestock (pastures and hay meadows) or crops, forests still cover a large part of the Park’s landscapes.

In the many steep, hard-to-reach, unstable, and low-fertility areas, forests have long provided protection for inhabited zones. They create a mosaic landscape between grasslands and rock faces, highlighting the geomorphological features of the land: river courses, slope breaks, aspect, scree slopes, and rocky areas.

The peak of deforestation and intensive forest exploitation (including timber floating) dates back to the 19th century. Most forests are still more or less actively managed, either for production or as protective forests. The ecological condition of these managed forests varies greatly — from spruce monocultures, long favoured for their value as construction timber, to diverse, well-structured mixed forests close to a natural state.

Today, forest management plans integrate the various functions of forest sites into their objectives: ecological, productive, protective, and social.

The use of alpine pastures during the summer months made it possible to relieve the valley grasslands and store the fodder essential for winter. This form of agriculture — optimising the use of forage production potential, mostly found in high-altitude areas — is centuries old.

Until the mid-20th century, the absence of machinery and pesticides, combined with limited transport options, led to a type of farming that was labour-intensive and market-oriented, yet relatively extensive from an ecological standpoint. Based on so-called “natural” meadows (without ploughing or reseeding), a particular agroecosystem developed, producing species-rich meadows and pastures. This evolution also played a decisive role in the survival of many alpine plants. Since the 1970s, however, this ancient rural landscape has undergone significant changes, driven by technological advances and the economic need to reduce labour (rural exodus) while increasing land and livestock productivity.

Today’s agricultural grasslands are largely made up of fertile meadows and pastures. They often appear flower-rich and visually appealing, but their biodiversity is sometimes relatively limited: the floristic composition of these fertile meadows varies greatly depending on management methods and intensity of use. Some ecologically valuable meadows are also vulnerable to drying out (due to drainage).

Wet meadows and some low bogs originated from the clearing of wet forests. These biotopes are often rich in orchids. Their maintenance requires regular mowing or grazing, without which forest eventually reclaims them. Conversely, the shift from extensive use to intensive management — involving fertilisation and drainage — inevitably leads to the disappearance of this valuable vegetation. Wet meadows and low bogs are thus sensitive both to abandonment and to agricultural intensification.

Numerous rivers and streams flow through the Park, mainly within the Sarine basin (draining to the North Sea), but also within the Rhône basin and the catchments of Lake Geneva’s tributaries (draining to the Mediterranean).

The main rivers are the Sarine, the Jogne, the Albeuve, the Torneresse, the Hongrin, the Javro, and the Motélon stream.

The Park borders or includes several lakes — from Lake Geneva to the Schwarzsee (Black Lake) — as well as the Hongrin, Rossinière, Lessoc, and Montsalvens lakes (the latter four being artificial). It also features several small mountain lakes, including Lake Lioson (Les Mosses) and Lake Coudré (Grandvillard).

Watercourses play a major ecological role, both for aquatic flora and fauna and for creating a diversity of habitats beneficial to terrestrial wildlife and plants (alluvial zones, wooded corridors, open habitats). In the Park, the Sarine and the Jogne act as wildlife corridors thanks to the wooded belts along most of their course. Five alluvial zones of national importance are located within the Park’s boundaries.

The Sarine, downstream from the Lessoc dam, is also a migration route for the lake trout (Salmo trutta lacustris, endangered), which swims upstream in winter from Lake Gruyère to spawn in the clear waters of the rivers. Brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) are abundant in the watercourses (thanks in part to restocking efforts) and make up most of anglers’ catches. River char (Salvelinus fontinalis, vulnerable) are found in the Sarine upstream of Lessoc and in Lake Montsalvens. Other companion species — such as minnow (which migrates for reproduction), sculpins, and loaches — also inhabit the Park’s streams.

These rivers and streams also have economic and recreational value, with angling on most of them (the Upper Sarine being particularly popular), rafting and hydrospeed on the Sarine upstream from Lake Rossinière, canyoning in the Pissot and La Tine gorges, and canoe-kayaking along much of the Sarine.

Many animal species thrive in the Park’s natural habitats.

As recognised by BirdLife Europe’s Important Bird Areas inventory, the Pays-d’Enhaut – Les Mosses is one of 30 Swiss sites identified for the long-term conservation of threatened bird species.

Edelweiss, western poppy, narcissus… more than 1,500 flowering plant species bloom across the Park’s territory. This wealth is due to the diversity of habitats: pastures, meadows, but also forests, peat bogs, rivers, and marshes. Many of these habitats, emblematic of Pre-Alpine flora, are under protection.