The tree-felling campaign has to continue

The tree-felling campaign that began in 2010 continued last winter, as we reported in our article of 4 March 2013 (see here). While safety concerns* are the main driver, the campaign will also allow a coherent landscaping plan to be implemented.

The areas where trees have already been felled are currently being redesigned, and replanting is scheduled to begin in 2014. CERN has initiated a study in collaboration with the Geneva nature and countryside directorate (Direction générale de la nature et du paysage, DGNP) with a view to drawing up a master plan covering all the green spaces on the Meyrin site. The aim of the study is to understand the landscaping issues at stake and to define a comprehensive redevelopment and landscaping programme for the whole site. In this framework, the areas where trees have been cut down since 2010 will be replanted. The study will also allow CERN to identify the areas that need to be redeveloped as a priority and to establish how this can be done within the operational constraints of the site.

With this redevelopment in mind and with a view to continuing to make its population of trees safer and healthier, CERN will pursue its tree-felling campaign this winter (click here for more information on the tree-felling campaign). The Meyrin site is currently home to a total of 1285 trees, not counting the poplars. 134 trees (88% of which are poplars) on the French part of the Meyrin site are due to be cut down over the coming weeks. In the final part of the campaign, which will get under way at the beginning of 2014, a further 81 trees on the Swiss part of the Meyrin site will be cut down.

It will thus have taken a total of four years to make the green areas on the Meyrin site safe and redesign them with a view to making the Organization a more pleasant place to be and giving it an enhanced appearance.

GS-IS Group

*The safety of people and property: some of the trees to be cut down are at risk of falling as they are too old and too tall to withstand the wind, while others with a shallow and spreading root system can easily be uprooted when the ground is waterlogged.