Our forest faces a new beginning

"We are experiencing a forest transformation of historic proportions. We are witnessing something very special," says National Park Manager Sabine Bauling from the Harz National Park, where massive bark beetle infestations have led to the death of spruce monocultures. The images of the Brocken, the landmark in the Harz Mountains, in particular, were all over the media. But it is not only pests, but also storms and the persistent drought that are severely affecting the monocultures, also known as plantations. In many places, entire forests are collapsing. Through human management, we have ensured that these "calamities" lead to a high degree of forest loss.

We have ensured that the majority of the original forests have been converted into monocultures. The last two decades have now led to this process being reversed - quite radically. We can use the great dieback to build a healthy, climate-friendly forest for future generations - or we can repeat the mistakes and rely on other, new tree species that are not yet native here, such as Douglas fir, and grow new monocultures. Both are happening in parallel on the wastelands created by the bark beetle invasion, storms and droughts. In the German low mountain range as well as in the Austrian Waldviertel and everywhere else in Central Europe.

If you take a sober look and analyze what effects the spruce bark beetle has on biodiversity at its respective location, the result is overwhelmingly positive.

Jörg Müller, ecologist and deputy head of the Bavarian Forest National Park

Bark beetle - pest or helper on the way to a climate-stable forest?

When you see a piece of forest destroyed by bark beetles, the first thing you might do is see them as pests. But it's not that simple. The following video provides more information on the subject.

"Heat stress, drought and storms as a result of climate change," says the National Park Manager in the Harz Mountains, Sabine Bauling, "are the ideal allies for a mass proliferation of the bark beetle in locations where spruce trees don't really belong."

Intergenerational contract is broken

Forest owners, foresters and conservationists are facing major new challenges and the loss of their usual source of income.

"As a forest owner, you live from the trees that generations have planted before you. You sell wood that you didn't produce yourself, but with the clear conscience that you are planting something new that the next generation or the generation after that will harvest," says Cornelius Meyer-Stork, a private forest owner in the Harz region. "This intergenerational contract has been broken with the bark beetle damage - the next generation will be able to sell significantly less."

"In the future, it will perhaps be more about preserving the forest in the first place - its ecological value or its functions for climate protection," says Meyer-Storck.

The crisis as an opportunity

As threatening as it can be for the individual, it is also an opportunity to restore species-poor plantations to near-natural forests that can also cope with the difficulties of climate change. The knowledge gained in Germany's national parks following the invasion of bark beetles and storms such as Kyrill can help us in this. On the one hand, nature has an uncanny power to bring itself back into balance.

In the national parks, the dead trees were left standing against public pressure, which was very important for natural development. "Tourism was declared dead, and it was not easy to make people understand that all you need is time and trust in natural processes," says Bauling. Those responsible for the park stood firm - and the dead trees in the forest.

"Here, nature has really knocked our human blueprint - that of a pure spruce stand - on the head and developed its own plan," says the national park manager.

After 20 years, the former dark green spruce stands have been replaced by a bright green and white young birch forest.

In commercial forest areas, leaving the dead tree mass standing is often not implemented. There, the dead trees are removed from the area by machine. As a result, the soil and thus the seeds and emerging seedlings are much more exposed to wind, sun and rain and the already damaged forest system is further damaged by human and mechanical measures.

Start-up aid for healthy forests

And where this is not possible, we can help with so-called initial planting of native mixed forests. A wide variety is crucial here. Starting with pioneer plants such as birch, elder, hawthorn, rowan and aspen and later other species such as lime, beech - the previously predominant tree - oak and maple (and many more species), which grow in the shade of the first pioneer plants, a natural climax forest is created. It does not need any new species from other locations. Instead, it needs a good mix and healthy soil as well as sufficient water, which can be achieved through conscious water management in the forest.

"The pioneer tree species pave the way for the future forest," says Hinrich Matthes, forest ecologist. "After a few decades, they collapse and clear the way for the new forest that has grown under their protection: oak, beech and maple then dominate the new forests." Over six million deciduous trees have been planted in the Harz Mountains alone since 2008.

The most important task of forest management

A senior forester from Brandenburg, who is responsible for 23,000 hectares of predominantly pine forest, believes that the most important task of foresters is to create an ecologically stable and therefore climate-resilient forest. "The number of cubic meters of wood produced is increasingly no longer a suitable measure of how successful you are," says the forester.

Our pro.earth.conclusion:

For smaller landowners in particular, the establishment of such a future-proof forest entails a major financial risk. It requires courage and foresight and thinking across generations. It remains to be seen to what extent the states will be prepared to compensate for this in monetary terms; in some places this is already happening and a premium is paid for sustainable forest management.

We should use this crisis as an opportunity and allow a near-natural, healthy forest to develop by giving nature space and time and only intervening and helping where it really makes sense. And not, as can unfortunately often be observed, planting the next monocultures with other tree species in the place of the former spruce plantations. Let's seize the opportunity.