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A professional life on behalf of the forest: forest office head Martin Kainz says goodbye to retirement

2022-10-26T14:15:53.629Z


A professional life on behalf of the forest: forest office head Martin Kainz says goodbye to retirement Created: 10/26/2022, 4:02 p.m By: Boris Forstner At his previous office in Schongau, Martin Kainz was responsible for forestry, as the official sign on the wall says - the historic forestry office sign is a reminder of earlier times. © Boris Forstner He was an institution when it came to for


A professional life on behalf of the forest: forest office head Martin Kainz says goodbye to retirement

Created: 10/26/2022, 4:02 p.m

By: Boris Forstner

At his previous office in Schongau, Martin Kainz was responsible for forestry, as the official sign on the wall says - the historic forestry office sign is a reminder of earlier times.

© Boris Forstner

He was an institution when it came to forests in the district: Martin Kainz, head of the forest department of the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry, has retired.

A look back at his 40-year working life.

District – The 64-year-old did not peddle the fact that he will spend his last days at the office on Amtsgerichtsstrasse in Schongau.

"Nevertheless, I was amazed at who noticed all this and got in touch," says Kainz.

Actually, the official retirement doesn't start until the beginning of next year, but because Kainz has been carrying around a lot of vacation time "with the boss's approval" for years, he has actually been out of office since the end of September.

It's not like Kainz always wanted to work in the forest.

After high school and 15 months of compulsory military service, "I had no idea what to do," he admits.

Born in the Allgäu, he toyed with the idea of ​​studying biology, but then happened to study forestry, which was still available at the time – and found his calling.

“All sorts of scientific subjects were covered.

We learned about zoology, chemistry, biology, geology and meteorology, to name just a few,” says Kainz.

"You didn't go that deep, but you noticed something everywhere."

Thanks to the good state exam: Kainz was accepted into the civil service

After graduation, job prospects were poor, “there were only a few jobs.

But I didn't have a plan B," said Kainz.

He completed his legal clerkship at the Oberforstdirektion Augsburg, he worked for a year at the Dillingen forestry office, "I had a good education".

Thanks to his good grades in the state examination, Kainz was actually accepted into the civil service, only a third of the graduates were so lucky.

"That was my first big goal."

At work, things got exciting right away: in 1986 buzzwords such as dying forests and acid rain came up, "that was the overarching topic," Kainz remembers.

Sentences like “Forest before wild”, which is law today, were also used for the first time.

“There was an overall paradigm shift.

Some forestry office managers have also noticed that things cannot go on as before.”

Traveling everywhere in the Alps - "There are few mountains that I haven't been to"

Kainz was allowed to help organize the topic of protective forest restoration, also a new topic with a lot going wrong.

“That was funny because nobody knew how it worked and how to deal with the mountain forest.

That knowledge had been lost over the years.

And they sent me out as a beginner with the words, 'do it'.”

It was an early highlight of his career, says Kainz, because he traveled all over the Alps, including abroad such as in Switzerland, to see how colleagues there were approaching the subject.

"There are actually few mountains in the area that I haven't been to," says Kainz.

Forest reform in 2005 with the dissolution of numerous offices was a major turning point

But after ten years it was time for a change, in 1996 Kainz went to the forestry office in Füssen as deputy manager.

This was also a formative time for him: "I was responsible for the entire state forest, my boss took care of the private forest." He was involved in forest management and was able to implement ideas and plans independently.

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The big turning point came in 2005 with the forest reform.

The senior forest directorates were dissolved, forest offices were combined, the state forest was merged into the state forest operation, forest workers everywhere feared for their jobs - including Kainz.

Because Füssen was also dissolved and his job was practically gone, he had to reapply and didn't think he had much of a chance because many higher-ranking colleagues also needed a new area of ​​responsibility.

Kainz has been the chief forester in the Weilheim-Schongau district since 2007

But Kainz was lucky, even twice - and had to "make the most difficult decision of my life", as he says.

Because he had received a commitment for the newly created state forestry operation in Sonthofen, where his many years of experience in the state forest would have stood him in good stead.

However, he had been at home in Steingaden for years with his wife and three children, the commute would have been enormous - he didn't want to do that to himself and his family.

So he decided on Schongau, where the forest department of the Weilheimer Amts was located - although he didn't even become department head there.

"But I was lucky: the position became vacant soon afterwards," says Kainz.

Since the beginning of 2007 he has been the chief forester in the district.

Difficult compromises often have to be found

A lot has happened in the past 15 years.

On the one hand the work (“today a worker does many jobs that a forester used to do”), on the other hand the view of the forest: “The demands of society are increasing, everyone wants a piece of the forest,” says Kainz .

Difficult compromises often have to be found between all those involved.

"Everyone wants to have a wooden house, but if you have to cut down a tree for it, that's bad," Kainz explains the dilemma.

In Bavaria and Germany, people are very sensitive to the topic: "I don't want to praise myself, but the way we deal with the forest is a world leader."

Dealing with the forest in countries far worse - "as a forester, your eyes water"

He can say that because he has already been to America and Asia and has seen with his own eyes how the plantation economy prevails there - "It's like the corn fields here," says Kainz.

“Yellowstone National Park, for example, is magnificent.

But if you go just a few meters beyond that, as a forester, your eyes water,” says Kainz.

He speaks of “ruthless use of the forest”.

In retrospect, he would do everything the same way again, although he could do without the ever-expanding bureaucracy.

"It's really annoying and one of the reasons why I'm retiring a year earlier," says Kainz.

The tasks are also increasing, "I don't envy my colleagues for that".

By the way, there is no successor for him yet.

(By the way: everything from the region is also in our regular Schongau newsletter. And in our Weilheim-Penzberg newsletter.)

And what does he intend to do when he retires?

Taking care of the grandchildren and traveling is at the top of the agenda, and maybe going to the theater more often again, a great passion of the 64-year-old.

"I definitely won't get bored," says Kainz.

All news and stories from Schongau can be found on our Facebook page.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-10-26

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