When dealing with future windthrow areas on which natural hazards are likely to develop, the question arises as to how such areas should be treated: should the whole windthrow area be cleared, or only part of it, or should it simply be left as it is? Here, the following considerations should be borne in mind:
1. Where the thrown trees are more or less stable in position and do not lie downslope, they provide a good protection against natural hazards during the first years succeeding the storm and no intervention is necessary.
2. If a large windthrow area is cleared, the additional damage to the soil rapidly and notably increases the risk of erosion, rockfall and avalanche break zones. Possible avalanche break zones on cleared windthrow areas, especially when they lie above settlements, must be provided with at least temporary avalanche protection struc- tures and appropriate silvicultural measures must be taken to ensure the minimum degree of safety.
3. In many cases, where a windthrovv area remains completely uncleared, its protective influence is perfectly adequate. Where the protection is not guaranteed in parts of a windthrow area, these can easily be strengthened, for instance through stabilising a fallen tree trunk here and there or building protection structures against avalanches, rock falls or erosion. In areas with no particular risk there is a good chance that the protective effects of the fallen trunks can be maintained until the young trees artificially planted or growing through natural regeneration can take over this function.
4. In order to minimise subsequent damage by bark beetles, priority should be given to limbing and peeling solitary overthrown trees or those in small or middle-sized windthrow areas before the imagoes take flight; this would also reduce the risk of infestation of neighbouring stands.