Summer of drought ...

Deadly drought for spruce

According to Dost, the current situation is much more complex and far-reaching than with Kyrill. This year, the problems are not monocausal (= beetles or storms), instead there is a mix of many different factors. "Spruce trees suffer from drought damages and bark-beetle infestation throughout the country. The fact that forest soil can dry through completely to a depth of up to 1.5 m is a new quality of damage. This is also why damages occurred so abruptly." The pattern of damage changes: Instead of the bark falling off after beetle infestation and the treetop turning brown afterwards, this year the pattern often occurs exactly the other way around due to the drought.

Subsequent years are usually even worse

When asking Dost how he expects things to continue, he refers to the drought year of 2003. Back then, beetle-related problems became even worse in the subsequent two to three years. This year, there definitely is a third generation - the beetle population that will survive the winter is correspondingly high. Therefore, it is necessary to clean out as much as possible. "Our remedial measures aim at catching the major share of the population." Dost also considers phytosanitary measures in the state forests under way. Almost all colleagues are currently not logging any more green wood. In his enterprise, the next step is to put large volumes of B/C qualities in water storage. Dost intends to temporarily store around 200,000 sm³ with this method in order to market this volume in one to two years at better prices.

Soon spruce-free below 500 m?

The further spruce trees are removed from their original growing area, the bigger the problems are. "In Brandenburg the situation is so dire that this federal state could be practically spruce-free this year already." Dost thinks that spruce will only grow in its optimal growing area starting at a certain sea level in the upcoming decades. "In the medium term, spruce below 500 m will become scarce in Saxony-Anhalt", Dost predicts. "Already now, we observe: Independent of the question whether spruce occurs in pure or mixed stands, it is turning brown." From his point of view, there is no region in Germany where things are different. In damage areas, Dost will accept interim mixes that will subsequently be converted step by step. "It would be nonsense to dictate a target tillering now already. For a measure like that, areas as well as climatic insecurities are too big. What if this year's summer has not been a millennial but a decennial one? Then the next drought is already around the corner", Dost contemplates.

Create a broad base - with fir

The new populations should ideally consist of five tree species. There will hardly be any monocultures in the regional forestry department of Saxony-Anhalt. They are putting some of their hope in fir. "Even in monocultures, losses are not as bad as with other tree species." Within a foreseeable period, Dost will also put an emphasis on Douglas fir in locations with deep soil depth. "And as for hardwood we will definitely use the whole range for mixing." One of the big disappointments of the past few weeks for Dost were larch trees. They are heavily infested by larch bark beetles. "Larch is probably suitable for mixing - but not much more." On storm areas caused by Friederike, Saxony-Anhalt is planning to establish real forest edges (30 to 40 m high) at 100 km. These are supposed to direct the airflow via the canopy and therefore optimize the forest-internal climate additionally.