As of: March 27, 2024, 7:16 a.m
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Actively confronting climate change: Forest owner Sepp Gerr, WBV operations manager Lukas Eichstaedt and forester Robert Wiechmann rely on the inherent dynamics of the forests, as can be observed in the forests near Hartpenning.
© Kathrin Suda
Climate change is affecting forests.
The spruce, the bread tree of forestry, is under pressure.
Experiences from a district near Kleinhartpenning show how forest conversion to climate-resistant tree species can work.
A magic formula is: grab the chainsaw in good time.
Holzkirchen
- The spruce is dying.
Experts have no doubt that spruce trees will soon disappear from large areas of Bavarian forests.
It gets too warm for them and there is a lack of precipitation.
Bark beetles then finish off the weakened trees. “We are already observing the climate-related weakening of the tree,” explains Robert Wiechmann, the forester responsible for Holzkirchen, Valley and Otterfing.
He advises forest owners on how to convert the stands in a climate-stable manner and is convinced: “Natural, sustainable forestry is better than shutting down forests, also for climate protection reasons.”
Farmer and forester Sepp Gerr has already taken this path.
He manages around 20 hectares of forest around Kleinhartpenning.
“My father tried a lot.
He inherited a forest that was in top condition.” Son Leonhard (20) inherited the passion of his father and grandfather and is following along.
Together with Wiechmann and Lukas Eichstaedt, the operations manager of the Holzkirchen forest owners' association, the Gerrs use a simple idea.
“We are systematically thinning out the forest,” explains Wiechmann.
The aim is to specifically create good second-tier conditions for the next generation of forests that grow up naturally.
When there is enough sunlight on the ground and the old trees provide enough shade for moist forest floors, the forest virtually rebuilds itself.
The experts have noticed that the climate-tolerant fir is predominantly growing around Hartpenning and its seeds are settling over several hundred meters exactly where they are needed.
“A clever approach by the forest” – Wiechmann, Gerr and Eichstaedt agree.
The felled wood usually stays in the region and is further processed here.
When it comes to marketing, it makes a difference whether the beetle is already in the tree.
“A beetle tree brings in around a third less than a healthy tree,” explains Lukas Eichstaedt, who is primarily responsible for logistics before and after felling.
Smart management gives hope of making the forests ready for the onset of climate change in good time.
“We are doing very well here in the northern district, everyone is trying very hard,” says forester Wiechmann happily.
In his eyes, this also includes good hunting: “If deer eat mainly the young shoots of the fir trees, it also becomes dangerous for the forest.”
A forest from which the spruce trees are leaving, as the forest officer emphasizes.
It depends on sufficient rainfall and a temperature corridor of minus 4.5 to plus 9.5 degrees.
It has long since become too warm for the spruce around Holzkirchen - and not just here: According to the State Institute for Forestry and Forestry, 2023 was a record year, the warmest since measurements began in 1881.
The spruce gets caught in a vicious circle.
Higher temperatures and longer dry periods help the bark beetle to multiply and at the same time weaken the spruce.
Once the tree is infected, it dies.
“If you are very quick, the tree can be felled and transported away before the brood flies out,” says Wiechmann.
Large areas of forest can be affected in a very short time.
Two to three dry years – and the beetle eats its way through a stand of spruce trees.
KATHRIN SUDA
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