FORESTS IN GERMANY,    FORESTS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The original forest vegetation –  hardwood – amounted nearly 80  % of the total forest area. The characteristically type of tree was the beech.
Generally the today forest area in Germany can be divided into:
1. the rich pine north of Germany
2. the rich hardwood low mountain rage of Germany
3. the rich spruce south of Germany
4. the coast area in Germany.

Low mountain rage south of Cologne (Stephanie Gotza)

Today you can find 71 types of trees in Germany. The main types of trees are pine (Pinus sylvestris), spruce (Picea abies), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and oak (Quercus ssp.).

Distribution of the tree species in Germany in  % (Holzabsatzfonds, 2006)

The forestry in Germany works since 30 years after the principle “close to nature forest management”. As a result the picture of the German forest changed and step by step rich coniferous sites were and will be transformed into mixed hardwood sites.
The today hardwood and mixed forests amounts 39 %.
But what is the future of the German forest? The Global Warming, especially the annual average rise of the temperatures, will influence the forest ecosystems too. In 100 years there will grow more hardwood than coniferous trees.
Very special are the non-native tree species, for example Douglas fir, Japan larch, American red oak, Robinia. The non-native species amount 4  % of the total forest area in Germany.
A special tradition is the Tree of the Year. Every year one tree is chosen. Since 20 years the foundation „BAUM DES JAHRES – Dr. Silvius Wodarz Stiftung“ is promoting one special tree every year. The goal is to increase the understanding of the chosen tree among the German population. The tree of the year 2011 was the service tree (Sorbus torminalis).

Otter in the Schorfheide, Germany (Astrid Schilling)

Mammals, who are living today in the German hardwood forest, are martens, fallow deer, red deer, boars, lynxes, foxes, beavers and otters. Since 1998 wolves were detected in the Lausitz. Until then 5 packs (about 25-50 wolves in total) and one pair of wolves in the Lausitz (Saxony) and one wolves pack and one pair of wolves in the Lausitz (Brandenburg) were documented.