Switzerland launches the Barrier Tracker app next to a free flowing Sihl in Zurich

Right in the middle of Zurich, next to the main station, the Sihl was revitalised during the last months. Within that project they also removed a big, 50m long wall, standing in the Sihl. Dam removal finally hit Switzerland, yay!

This project has been implemented by SBB, the canton of Zurich and WWF, and supported by Hiltl. The works finished in April and with this excuse, WWF Switzerland together with its partners organized a nice inauguration and launched the AMBER Citizen Science program. The event took place right in the middle of Zurich, next to the central railway station and was a huge success. Just after the biggest work was done the first sneep passed the project site, looking for suitable spawning places – what a nice result, for fish and man!

The event itself consisted of different elements: there was a so called ‘nature-box’ where people could sit in and take a picture where it looks like they would be paddling down a totally natural river. There were different ‘water games’ for the children and there were two guided tours through the newly revitalized site, where the project leader explained all the different elements they built to interested visitors. Besides that, we also distributed a lot of flyers, about the project, about revitalizations in general, about the AMBER app, always together with a locally produced sweet (with a fish shape). Additionally, before the event itself, we also offered an exclusive tour for press people which resulted in several good articles in different local and regional media and the video was shared across social media and other networks within Switzerland but also within Europe.

All in all, the event was really a success, there were a lot of interested people and the feedback was positive throughout. Want to see the freed Sihl? Have a look at the following video: