Drought in Germany - Forest conversion with Mediterranean tree species
Spruce, pine and Douglas fir are suffering massively from the increasing drought. A reconstruction of the forest in Germany is therefore becoming more and more necessary for ecological and economic reasons. A scientifically monitored experimental cultivation with Lebanon cedar now gives hope.
In the 400-hectare forest of the Aufseß family near Bayreuth in Upper Franconia, sawed, worthless spruce trunks with the characteristic traces of bark beetles are lying on the paths. Spruce, pine and Douglas fir are suffering massively from the drought in Franconia that has been growing for years, says owner Wolf von Aufseß. That's why he's now switching to the Lebanon cedar:
“It's the Lebanon cedars, all the way down the line. There are 300 seedlings. We sometimes have a few protective measures, but most of them are now only marked by small posts and are unprotected. "
Conversion of the forest is necessary
The cedar sprouts are still just up to one meter high. They grow faster in sunny locations with a lot of space than in the shade. There is no bark beetle infestation. The saplings, which grow straight as a pin, resemble the larches that stand a few meters away. In the forest of the long-established family there are also beeches, oaks, service berries, maples, silver fir and now the Lebanon cedar. The conversion of his forest has been important to him for several years, for ecological and economic reasons, says the private forest owner. That is why he followed the call from the University of Bayreuth and the Bavarian State Institute for Forestry and Forestry to try the exotic Mediterranean tree species:
“These are dream trees, so I could imagine a forest with them just by looking at them. It's just a beautiful tree and if it can withstand the heat, it should have a chance here. "
Exotic tree species achieve good growth rates
The robust seedlings come from the Ecological Botanical Garden of the University of Bayreuth. Around 6,000 of them are waiting there for customers from all over Central Europe who will take part in the scientifically monitored trial cultivation. The Bavarian State Forests are there, the Forest Research and Competence Center Thuringia, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna and the Swiss Federal Research Institute. Lebanon cedars are now also growing successfully in North Rhine-Westphalia, i.e. in locations with the most varied of climatic conditions, says Gregor Aas, head of the Bayreuth Botanical Garden:
"The most important and from my point of view the most interesting result is that we can achieve good growth rates of all exotic tree species in the least dry location in Switzerland and at the driest location, namely in Thuringia with less than 500 millimeters of annual precipitation."
In the Bayreuth Botanical Garden, the cones and seeds from around 100 so-called mother trees are harvested by hand. Around 40 years ago botanists brought the cedar seeds with them from the southern Taurus Mountains of Turkey - out of scientific interest. While employees of the Bavarian Office for Forest Genetics are still looking for the best cedar seeds in Turkey and the Middle East, today in Franconia it is more about the economic benefit, says forest expert Aas:
“It is important for us that the cedar, which produces a more valuable wood than the spruce, is a significantly more valuable wood - it is heavier, it is harder, it is significantly more durable, especially outdoors without wood protection - that this wood is at least as good as The amount that is produced at the same locations as the spruce is somewhat higher. "
Cedar of Lebanon is accepted by native birds
Aas replies to critics of non-native species in Germany that the Lebanon cedar is very well accepted by native birds, and increasingly also by insects. It is not an invasive tree species, i.e. a tree species that displaces native plants.
This is one of the reasons why the Free State of Bavaria has been promoting the cultivation of Lebanon cedar since this year, confirms Norbert Wimmer, project manager at the Bavarian State Institute for Forestry and Forestry LWF. The state forests alone expanded the cultivation area to 5 hectares this year:
“The main points now are to first see how the Lebanon cedar behaves in the association, how it reacts in the sealed stand, whether it loses its branches, whether it produces valuable wood and how it can also grow as a single tree, we want different test designs to see how to treat them. "
According to Wimmer, the problem in forestry is that decades will pass before results can be measured economically. Nobody knows how the climate will change by then. Therefore, the LWF recommends that it is best to rely on many different tree species in the forest. Those who scatter don't slip.
