As of: March 25, 2024, 7:00 a.m
By: Hans Moritz
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The Erdinger Foundation's forest property is primarily located in the northeastern district.
© City of Erding
The Heiliggeist Hospital Foundation is faced with a Herculean task: 160 days of forest work are to be set up in a climate-stable manner.
That will take years.
Erding – The Erding district is not only exceptionally sparsely forested, it is also dominated by spruce stands that are vulnerable to weather and climate.
This also applies to the approximately 160 hectares of forest that belong to the Erding-based Heiliggeist Hospital Foundation, mainly spread across the northeastern district.
It is best known for its large retirement and nursing home at the city park.
Now, according to the words of its chairman Reinhard Böhm, who is also managing director of the Erdinger city administration, the foundation has decided to convert its forests, which are mainly located in the Eschlbach, Hofkirchen and Maria Thalheim areas, in a climate-friendly manner: spruces out, deciduous trees in, is - roughly speaking - the motto.
The management plan was updated together with the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry (AELF), reports Böhm in an interview with our newspaper.
“This happens roughly every ten years.” City hall spokesman Christian Wanninger names community benefit, sustainability and profitability as the three central goals for the next 20 years.
What is important in this context is the conversion away from pure spruce stands towards climate-resistant mixed stands.
“This is the only way the foundation can have long-term access to the secure source of income and the valuable raw material wood,” it said in a statement.
But Böhm is clear: the conversion is initially associated with costs, and the spruce, as a fast (re)growing source of wood (“bread tree”), is losing importance – and thus its earning power.
According to Böhm, the foundation spends 10,000 to 20,000 euros every year on managing its forests.
“The yield situation varies depending on how large the felling is.” The wood is sold to sawmills.
Damaged wood after storms and beetle trees would yield significantly less.
Ultimately, the chairman admits, the foundation forest was not a big source of income.
On the contrary: in 2022, according to Böhm, there were expenses of 125,000 euros compared to income of 89,000 euros.
And Böhm is also clear: “The care and maintenance of a mixed forest is more complex and therefore more expensive.” But Böhm also points out that funding is available for the creation of climate-adapted forests.
Forest conversion is certainly nothing new for the Heiliggeist Hospital Foundation.
Under the care of Stefan Klutschewski, the municipal forester appointed by the AELF, the proportion of softwood has fallen from 72 to 56 percent since 2001, says Wanninger.
New tree species, such as the tree hazel and the sweet chestnut, have been introduced.
In total, the forest includes 28 different tree species and is therefore already well prepared in the face of the climate crisis, emphasizes the AELF expert.
In the next 20 years, the proportion of spruce should be further reduced, “so that the future stock can withstand climate change in a diverse and stable manner,” says Böhm.
According to Wanninger, the management of the foundation forest has a long tradition.
“The institution was already proven to have forests in the 17th century.
Since then the property has grown enormously.
In the middle of the 19th century it covered around 45 hectares of forest, 100 years later more than three times as much,” said the spokesman.
The Heiliggeist Hospital Foundation was founded by wealthy Erdinger families in the middle of the 15th century.
The nursing home is their most important facility.
The foundation's assets also include eight properties on which the home, the hospital church in the city center and 13 residential and commercial buildings with a total of 75 residential units and nine commercial premises are built, including the Heiliggeisthof.
According to Böhm, there are also 96 developed properties that are encumbered with a leasehold building right, as well as numerous undeveloped properties that are primarily used for agriculture and forestry.
This also includes the 160 hectares of forest, with whose new forest plan “we want to harmonize efficiency, nature conservation and the common good,” emphasizes Böhm.
The foundation not only supports the home, it also distributes significant amounts to social institutions every year.
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