Agarn

Agarn (Walliser German: Agaru) is a municipality in the district of Leukin the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Agarn is first mentioned in 1252 as Aert. In 1267 it was mentioned as Ayert and in the 16th century it was known as Agaren. Agarn was twice nearly totally burned down, in 1799 and 1899. Agarn has an area, as of 2009, of 7.7 square kilometers (3.0 mi). Of this area, 1.3 km (0.50 mi) or 17.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.55 km (0.98 mi) or 33.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.34 km (0.13 mi) or 4.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.06 km (15 acres) or 0.8% is either rivers or lakes and 3.4 km (1.3 mi) or 44.4% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.7%. Out of the forested land, 30.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.8% is used for growing crops and 7.3% is pastures, while 2.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 2.7% is used for alpine pastures.