If it is true that we should be respectful of the environment everywhere, it is even more crucial within a protected area. Only in this way can we preserve a precious heritage that belongs to all of us over time.

Let’s now look at the behaviors to adopt. The action of a single person may seem insignificant, but when repeated by thousands of tourists, it becomes a serious problem.

Waste: Take them back down After a picnic, do not leave or hide waste under a rock. Remember that paper napkins, which are biodegradable, take almost a year to decompose in the mountains. Not to mention plastic bags, practically indestructible. Some waste is also dangerous for animals, such as sharp objects (glass, open cans, etc.); others, like cans and bottles, turn into deadly traps for insects and small rodents.

Flowers, Insects, and Minerals: Leave them where they are. Let’s not forget that elements of nature and the landscape have their function where they live. Who hasn’t picked a bouquet of flowers in a meadow or some rock fragments with beautiful colors? Flowers do not exist solely for our personal pleasure but are necessary for the natural environment.

Fires and Tents: Only in authorized areas. Even a minor act of carelessness in the natural environment can cause serious damage: light a fire only in equipped areas, and when smoking, do not abandon the lit cigarette butt. Besides being waste, it could cause a fire! Animals are sensitive to the presence of humans. If you camp wherever you like, you disturb wildlife and ruin pastures. If you want to camp, you are welcome, provided you use designated campsites.

Wild Animals: Leave them alone. Ibex and chamois, after a long winter, have only the summer months to arrive well-fed for the breeding season. Do not try to approach them but observe them from a distance so they can eat in peace. Marmots and migrating birds also need tranquility to accumulate resources and survive the long months in their dens and the endless flight to wintering areas in Africa.

Trails and Mule Tracks: Do not stray from them. When walking in the mountains, you may be tempted to take a shortcut. This innocent behavior in the long run creates several problems:

• It ruins the grassy surface.
• It causes deep furrows where rain channels, eroding the soil.

Also, trampling mowed meadows makes hay cutting impossible, which is a wealth for farmers. Finally, if you stray from the trails, you may even risk getting lost!

Dogs: Better not. Surely, your dog is good. Surely, it is very obedient. Maybe you always walk it on a leash. But are you sure that your dog, smelling wild animals, will not slip away from you, perhaps for play, and chase a chamois or a marmot, scaring them? In this case, you could even face a criminal complaint. Unfortunately, every year we find animals torn apart by dogs… Therefore, there is a ban on introducing dogs in the park. If you love your dog, you love all animals. Think about it. For more information, visit the page dedicated to introducing dogs into the Park, with the areas and paths where it is allowed to bring them, always on a leash, in derogation from the regulations.

Paragliding Flights: Reasons for a ban. Overflights with any means, in the Park as in any other national protected area, represent an offense of a criminal nature based on Law 394 on Protected Areas. Numerous studies conducted in recent years in the Alpine environment show how paragliding can cause considerable disturbance to wildlife, especially mountain ungulates such as chamois and ibex.