As of: March 6, 2024, 1:14 p.m
By: Doris Schmid
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The beetle has eaten its way through here: forester Robert Nörr with a piece of bark.
© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
The pine forest in the Pupplinger Au is dying.
Pests eat their way through the trees.
District forester Robert Nörr is slowly losing hope.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
– The fears have come true: numerous pine trees in the Pupplinger Au have died.
More than 50 trees have to be felled or trimmed.
District forester Robert Nörr classifies the situation as dramatic.
“I’m slowly losing my optimism,” says the forester.
Fungus causes trees to gradually die
As early as the summer of 2022, Nörr drew attention to the desolate sight that the trees in the Pupplinger Au offered (we reported).
At that time, a fungus had spread massively in the characteristically sparse forest.
His name: Diplodia.
It triggers the death of pine shoots.
The trees' needles were brown and covered in black dots.
Little by little the fungus causes the trees to die.
Bare and desolate: In this strip of Pupplinger Au, every second pine tree has died.
© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
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Pest eats its way through the tree
The spread was aided by the heavy hail in 2021. The traces are still visible on many branches today.
Nörr hoped that no more pests would appear.
But this hope was in vain.
The large forest gardener, a bark beetle, as well as the pine jewel beetle, have attacked the trees.
“When the great forest gardener has hatched, it eats the crown,” explains the expert.
“They look as if they were pruned by a gardener.” The pest also eats its way through the tree.
His traces can be clearly seen on the bark that Nörr holds in his hand.
It is crossed by so-called feeding passages.
This also causes the tree to die.
Most of the trees have turned into spindly skeletons
According to Nörr, in some areas of the Schneeheide pine forest, up to 80 percent can no longer be saved.
The pest infestation has transformed the trees, which are on average around 100 years old, with their reddish-brown bark and umbrella-shaped crowns, into dry skeletons.
Some are already leaning precariously to one side.
More than 50 trees are affected.
Part of it now has to be cut or cut around.
This applies to the pine trees, which “are a danger to the road and those seeking relaxation,” emphasizes the district forester.
This is not intended within the area.
The trees are to be cut down to a height of four meters in spring or autumn using large machines, so-called harvesters.
The dead wood provides a habitat for birds and insects.
The cut crowns should also remain as large piles of brushwood and offer adders a better refuge.
Most forest owners agree with this approach - only "some people don't want these stumps".
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Brown needles, black dots: This pine shoot is affected by the fungus.
© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
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Felled trees are intended to give animals a habitat
He is aware that this measure will change the appearance of the forest and that not everyone will see it as “visually beautiful,” says Nörr.
But this is a “very conscious nature conservation measure,” emphasizes the district forester.
As the forester adds, the University of Applied Sciences in Weihenstephan-Triesdorf wants to carry out investigations in the area of the Isartalverein in the Pupplinger Au in order to get to the bottom of the pine dieback.
Can the dramatic situation in the riparian forest on the Isar be brought under control?
Nörr sees black.
“There’s nothing you can do about the fungus.
It is transmitted via spores and is always there.” And not just in the Pupplinger Au.
The stress that the trees are exposed to due to heat, drought and unpredictable weather will not decrease either.
“In the worst case scenario, all the pine trees in the hail corridors will die,” predicts Nörr.
Of course they want to reforest the forest.
“But it will be very, very difficult to get new offspring here,” says the expert, referring to the dry ground and the thick thatch of grass.
Nevertheless, they don't want to leave anything unturned.
“We will try different types of trees.” Nörr lists oak, whitebeam, cherry and Norway maple.
However, the focus should continue to be on the jaw.
“The character of the Pupplinger Au should be preserved.”
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