Margrith Gysel steps down after 22 years protecting Üetliberg

Margrith Gysel will step down as president of the Pro Üetliberg association at the end of the year, after 22 years campaigning to protect Üetliberg, Zurich’s local mountain, SRF reports.

Her involvement began in 2004, when the owners of the Uto Kulm hotel proposed an open-air cinema for 700 people. Gysel opposed the project, saying it was incompatible with a nature conservation area. Authorities later scaled it back, and the campaign led to her long-running work with Pro Üetliberg.

Over the years, Gysel challenged events, kiosks and loud parties on the mountain, often taking legal action against excessive events and illegal buildings. The efforts led to the removal of a food kiosk, while Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court ruled that illegal terrace extensions had to be demolished. A plan setting out what is permitted on Üetliberg also banned helicopter flights and excessive fireworks in 2015.

Gysel said she is now concerned about techno parties at the Uto Staffel mountain restaurant, some of which continue late into the night. She said such events do not belong in a nature conservation area. She cited a lack of younger people willing to commit over the long term as one reason for her decision to leave, but said committed and creative people would remain on the association’s board.

She hopes people who visit or work on the mountain will develop respect for its landscape.