Balsthal

History

Balsthal is first mentioned in 968 as Palcivallis. In 1255 it was mentioned as Balcetal.

Geography

Balsthal has an area, , of . Of this area, or 29.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 54.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 14.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and or 1.1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 7.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.6%. Out of the forested land, 53.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 6.4% is used for growing crops and 19.7% is pastures and 2.7% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the Thal district. It was a market town and administrative center for the Oberen Hauenstein. It consists of the village of Balsthal, the industrial settlement of Klus and the hamlets of Sankt Wolfgang.

Most-observed species

• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  16,481
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  8,777
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  6,680
• Marbled White

  Melanargia galathea Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  3,768
• Yellow-legged hornet

  Vespa velutina Lepeletier, 1836 · Insecta
  3,440
• European badger

  Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  3,330
• wild boar

  Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  2,696
• Annual Fleabane

  Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. · Magnoliopsida
  2,675

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, Switzerland
• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• M 4.2 — 2024-06-04
  2 km NNW of Unteriberg, Switzerland
• M 4.4 — 2023-03-22
  1 km NW of Pont-de-Roide, France
• M 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 4.1 — 2021-12-24
  2 km WSW of Blamont, France