czech Republic

75% increase of beetle-damaged wood in 2019

Article by Gerd Ebner (adapted for holzkurier.com; translated by Eva Guzely) | 13.05.2020 - 11:49

Spruce is mainly affected by damage caused by insects, followed by pine. The possibility of certain stabilization is still in sight. Verbatim, the article says: “It is to be expected that even these previously unimaginable quantities will again be exceeded in 2020.”

The dry, relatively warm winter of 2019/20 is going to significantly accelerate beetle infestation. “Spruce reserves in the forests of the Czech Republic still reach around 400 million m³,” reports VÚLHM. The fight against bark beetles is to focus on areas at higher altitudes which are not yet affected.

Due to the disturbed static stability of softwood forests after bark beetle catastrophes, the danger of abiotic damage rises strongly. Wind, snow, ice and droughts caused more than 4.4 million m³ of damaged wood in 2019 (2018: 6.4 million m³; 2017: 3.4 million m³), 60% of which were damaged by storms.