Patient Wald: The current status report has shown that drought, heat, pests and pollutants have affected trees in Germany more than ever in 2019. According to this, four out of five trees show damage, every third tree has a significantly thinned crown. In addition, more trees have died than in more than 20 years. Overall, the crown condition has never been as bad as it is now, the report says.
Around a third of Germany’s area is covered with forest, depending on the region, the coniferous species spruce and pine often dominate, but beech and oak are also common. How the German forest is doing is determined every summer by inspecting certain test areas all over Germany. The experts record the age and condition of the trees: how strongly is their crown light? Are they still green or are they already dead?
Hardly any trees without damage
The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture has now published the official forest condition report for 2019 – with little edifying results. Because the forest had already suffered noticeably in the dry heat of 2018, in 2019 this trend continued in an even stronger form. According to the report, the death rates of both conifers and deciduous trees are higher than they have been in over 20 years. In 2019, twice as many trees died than in previous years. But the surviving trees also have to struggle. As the state survey showed, only every fifth tree is free from damage and crown crowns, four out of five trees are damaged.
Beech and oak are particularly badly affected: 47 and 50 percent of these deciduous trees, respectively, show a clearing of the tree top by more than 25 percent. They lack at least a quarter of the normally available leaves. Compared to the already bad previous year, this is a further deterioration, as the report shows. Another good third of these trees were assigned the warning level – they lack between ten and 25 percent of the leaves. The proportion of healthy trees in these two tree species is only 16 and 17 percent.
The condition of conifers such as spruce and pine has also worsened compared to the previous year. In spruce, the proportion of clear crown crowns increased from 30 to 36 percent compared to 2018, a good three quarters of the trees have a leaf loss of more than ten percent. In the summer of 2019, around 26 percent of the trees in pine had lost more than a quarter of their needles, which is 11 percent more than in 2018. 56 percent of the pines were assigned to the warning level with eleven to 25 percent needle loss.
Worst condition since the beginning of the surveys
The report comes to the conclusion: “Overall, the results of the 2019 forest condition survey are among the worst ever: The proportion of trees without crown clearing has never been as low as 2019,” it says. Since the start of the regular forest condition reports in 1984, the experts have never presented such a negative result. One of the main causes of the poor condition of German forests is the climate: Because it was much too dry and warm in 2018 and 2019, the trees suffer from a lack of water. This limits their growth, promotes forest fires and makes them more susceptible to pests. In addition, high levels of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides are also considered to be potentially damaging to the forest.
The problem: So far, there are no signs that the situation of the forest will improve in 2020. Because even last winter there was not enough rain in many places to compensate for the water deficit in the soil, as measurements show. Since March there has also been a dry period with continued sunshine and practically no precipitation. This is not good news for the forest. “The climate crisis continues to affect the patient forest. Already in spring there are signs of a new drought period and with it dying forest stands up to impending forest fires, “says Olaf Bandt, chairman of the federation for environmental and nature protection (BUND). “We need effective forest protection through effective climate protection. The forest is under constant stress due to drought, intensive forestry and nitrogen inputs. “
Source: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Forest condition report 2019 , FEDERATION