Editing Geography of Switzerland (section)

===Forests===
{{main|Forests of Switzerland}}
Forests cover less than a third of the territory, but the area is increasing year by year. The [[reforestation]] is essentially natural, mainly in the Alps where the forest areas reoccupy those abandoned by farmers. [[Afforestation]] contributes 13% to reforestation, and is conducted for compensation following a clearance or to provide protection against natural hazards in the mountainous areas (avalanches, landslides). Forests are more predominant in the Jura and in the southern Alps, occupying respectively 47.7% and 47.2% of the soil in these regions. On the northern slopes of the Alps, Alpine forest occupy 33.2% and on the Plateau 24.6%. It is in the Central Alps that forest areas occupy less floor with about 22% coverage.

Switzerland is home to mixed maple-ash forests of fertile and deep earth that collects at the base of slopes. They replace the moist oak-hornbeam forests in areas with higher rainfall. This type of forest has been called "one of the most productive in Switzerland" and the tree growth has been described as "aggressive". It takes one third of the time for trees to reach the same height as it would in a mull-beech forest and within 100 years trees in maple-ash forests can reach a height of 35m, though the quality of wood will not be as high. The rich undergrowth of these forests is dominated by the ''[[allium ursinum]]'' (wild garlic) common throughout Western Europe.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ecology of Central European Forests |date=22 September 2017 |publisher=Springer |pages=450–451 |isbn=9783319430423 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOQ2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA450 |access-date=28 March 2019}}</ref>