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Autumn in Siegerland: deciduous forests are now to be planted more in North Rhine-Westphalia
Photo: Rene Traut / IMAGO
This year, too, drought, fires and beetle infestation have severely affected the forests in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Only 28 percent of all trees examined are still completely healthy and show no disease-related loss of leaves or needles.
Compared to the previous year, this proportion has not improved, said Agriculture Minister Silke Gorißen (CDU) at the presentation of the new forest condition report in Düsseldorf.
38 percent of the forest trees already showed severe damage, another 34 percent a so-called thinning of the tree crown.
This is what foresters call the pathological loss of leaves from trees, in which the crown thins.
The forest needs climate trees
NRW has been surveying the condition of the forests since 1984, and there has been a negative trend for years, which is now continuing.
According to the latest report, this summer has produced the warmest and driest August since weather records began in 1881.
At the same time, the longest and strongest drying of the soil observed so far has caused a significant water shortage in the trees.
The bark beetle population remains at a high level.
The focus of the infestation is now in the Sauerland and Siegerland, while the situation in the Eifel is somewhat better.
A total of 135,000 hectares of forest in NRW are so-called damaged areas.
Storms, summer droughts and mass proliferation of spruce bark beetles are to blame, Gorißen explained.
When it comes to reforestation, it is more important than ever to rely on mixed forests that can better adapt to climate change.
In the coming year, the state government intends to provide 70 million euros in subsidies for the forestry and timber industries.
According to the information, NRW has around 935,000 hectares of forest.
This corresponds to about 27 percent of the country's area.
The forest consists of 58 percent deciduous trees, mostly beech and oak.
Coniferous trees, especially spruces, grow on 42 percent of the forest area.
koe/dpa
