For a few weeks, forester Lisa Schubert (33) has been the contact person at the forestry office for forest owners in the southern district.
She is also responsible for managing the forests of the city of Starnberg.
Starnberg – Lisa Schubert says she has no family background.
As a teenager, she had little to do with woods and forests.
She wanted to study environmentally efficient planning and building.
"Then I listened to a lecture on forest science and knew immediately: I want to do this." And now, at the age of 33, she is still convinced that it was the right thing to do.
Lisa Schubert is the new head of the Starnberg forest district.
Since June, she has been looking after the forests in the area of the city of Starnberg and the municipalities of Berg, Pöcking, Inning and Seefeld for the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry in Weilheim.
Before that, she was district manager in the Dachau district for seven years.
Its main task is to advise forest owners.
And in the forest she is “the policewoman, so to speak”.
Forest officials may also carry out policing measures in certain circumstances, provided they serve to protect the forest - for example, to prevent arson or pollution.
Schubert takes on the forest management itself – i.e. planting, felling and selling trees – for the 160 hectares of forest in the city of Starnberg.
In the past two months she has already gotten an impression of the peculiarities of her territory.
"The recreational function of the forest naturally plays a special role here," she says.
"People's expectations are very high." There is not always understanding when a path is blocked due to tree felling work.
"There are many paths only because the forest is managed."
She really enjoys the contact with the forest owners, she says.
In their new territory there are many, mostly with small areas.
They own two hectares on average.
Hardly anyone has to make a living from it.
Nevertheless, most of them took care of their trees with joy and pride, says Schubert.
Nor were they discouraged by storm damage and bark beetle damage, nor by the high expectations placed on them.
The forester is also enthusiastic about the landscape in the district, which was shaped by the Ice Age.
“The many small lakes in the dead ice holes are beautiful, I discover new favorite places almost every day.
Then I sit down for five minutes and enjoy.
Or I open my laptop and do work that I would otherwise do in the forestry office in Hausen.”
But Schubert is far removed from viewing the forest as just an idyll that should be left to its own devices as much as possible.
It bothers her that many people see things differently.
"You want a lot of natural products made of wood, but if possible no trees are cut down," she says.
But spruce plantations are not their ideal either.
“They were created in the post-war period, when there was a lack of money and labour, but there was a great hunger for timber.
The fact that we now have to make these forests fit for the future with a view to climate change is firmly anchored in the consciousness of most forest owners.” Schubert is not just a forester, hunter and part-time farmer.
She is now also a forest owner herself.
She was able to purchase a few hectares near her home in Wessobrunn.
She pleads for “natural forest management”.
If the beech trees start growing on their own at one location, you just help them to grow.
This also saves time and money.
And yet every forest owner has their own goals.
"Here I help to find solutions," explains Schubert.
“One is a beekeeper and wants flowering tree species.
Another lives further away and wants a low-maintenance forest.” The fact that the forests around Starnberg are not divided creates an attractive variety.
Keeping the forests viable will be a challenge in the future, says Schubert.
But she thinks simply harvesting less wood to combat climate change is wrong.
“In Germany less wood is felled than grows.
We import lark for patio furniture.
In this way, our carbon footprint is only outsourced.” For Schubert, raising awareness of these issues is also part of her job.
For those who are interested, she offers evening walks in the forest, for example on Tuesday, August 23, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. under the motto "Climate boards are climate savers".
Meeting point is at the multi-purpose hall in Wangen.
