Vallorbe

History

Vallorbe is first mentioned in 1139 as de valle urbanensi. In 1148 it was mentioned as de valle urbe.

Geography

Vallorbe has an area, , of . Of this area, or 22.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 66.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.2% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.6% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Out of the forested land, 64.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.4% is used for growing crops and 16.6% is pastures and 3.9% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.8% is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located on the Swiss-French border. It is surrounded on three sides with mountains and reaches from in elevation. On the east side, the valley opens up due to the Jougnenaz and Orbe rivers. It includes the hamlets of Le Day, Le Creux and Bellevue.

Most-observed species

• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  6,815
• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  5,490
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  4,825
• Small Heath

  Coenonympha pamphilus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  3,585
• Marbled White

  Melanargia galathea Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  3,056
• Eurasian beaver

  Castor fiber Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  2,750
• gray wolf

  Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 · Mammalia
  2,704
• Small Tortoiseshell

  Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,550

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2026-01-12
  4 km SSW of Les Houches, France
• M 4.4 — 2023-03-22
  1 km NW of Pont-de-Roide, France
• M 3.3 — 2022-09-25
  7 km ESE of Ar?ches-la-Frasse, France
• M 4.1 — 2021-12-24
  2 km WSW of Blamont, France
• M 3.4 — 2020-06-23
  11 km ESE of Samoëns, France
• M 4.1 — 2017-07-01
  7 km E of Châtel-Saint-Denis, Switzerland