Fontaines, Switzerland
Fontaines is a former municipality in the district of Val-de-Ruz in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.
The municipalities of Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys, Montmollin, Le Pâquier, Savagnier and Villiers merged on 1 January 2013 into the new municipality of Val-de-Ruz.
History
Fontaines is first mentioned in 1228 as Fontanes.
Geography
Fontaines had an area, as of 2009, of 10.1 square kilometers (3.9 sq mi). Of this area, 6.39 km2 (2.47 sq mi) or 63.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.89 km2 (1.12 sq mi) or 28.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.76 km2 (0.29 sq mi) or 7.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km2 (9.9 acres) or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km2 (4.9 acres) or 0.2% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.3% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.2% of the area Out of the forested land, 23.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 29.9% is used for growing crops and 5.4% is pastures and 27.6% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.