HessenForst adapts forest management to climate change

In view of advancing climate change, the state company HessenForst is changing its approach to converting and managing forests. While in previous years the main focus was on reforesting areas that had been deforested by storms, drought and the bark beetle between 2018 and 2020, the focus now is on converting forests under existing trees, a HessenForst spokesman told the German Press Agency. “You go from one mammoth task to the next.”

The drought and heat this year particularly affected the beech trees, which suffered greatly from drought stress. In the case of damaged beech stands, the foresters are currently removing trees earlier - before the beech trees in these stands begin to regenerate naturally, said the spokesman. On the one hand, the aim is to initiate a diverse and climate-adapted forest generation. “It’s also about using the wood from the damaged trees as high-quality as possible as a long-lasting wood product,” says the HessenForst spokesman.

The Hessian Forest Owners Association is also calling for more scope for design in forest conversion. The EU regulation for the restoration of nature relies heavily on native tree species and in particular the beech as a "habitat-defining" - and therefore on the tree species that, after the spruce, is currently particularly suffering from drought and heat, criticized the association's managing director, Christian Raupach. “We are committed to ensuring that this European recovery regulation is reopened and changed.” It presents forest owners with a task “that no one can accomplish.”