The advancing damage to German forests is reflected not least in the growing volume of logged damaged wood. Last year, damaged trees accounted for three quarters of the overall logging volume (80.4 million m³). For comparison: In 2015, the share of damaged wood in regular logging, which amounted to 55.6 million m³, was only 23%, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
In 2020, almost 43.3 million m³ (72%) of the around 60.1 million m³ of damaged wood were damaged by insects. According to Destatis, that is a nearly 13-fold increase compared to 2015. At that time, 3.3 million m³ were recorded. The overall volume of damaged wood harvested in 2020 was almost five times as big as in 2015 (12.9 million m³). Back then, wind and storms – including hurricane Niklas in March 2015 – were the main reasons for the accumulation of damaged wood. In 2020, only 17% of the wood was damaged by those events. Coniferous trees, especially spruces, suffer the most from bark beetle infestation. According to Destatis, coniferous trees, such as spruces, firs or pines, accounted for 99% of the insect-damaged wood which was harvested in German forests in 2020.
