Deforestation of hundreds of strong beech trees denounced
"With grief and bewilderment" reacted members of the association national park nordsteigerwald on einschlagsmabnahmen in the area of fabrikschleichach in the district habberge, which were not known so far. There, the state forestry enterprise had "hundreds of powerful old book" fallen, the chairman of the national park association liebhardt loffler (FDP) is quoted in a press release.
Everyone could get an idea of the size of the impact at the state road from fabrikschleichach to unterschleichach. The books between 60 and 100 centimeters had been specifically taken out.
Already at the end of november, the start of the logging in the controversial former protected area "high beech forest" had begun near ebrach led to an exchange of blows between nature conservationists and forest users. Bund naturschutz and lisa badum, member of parliament for the grunen, demanded an immediate stop to logging.
Over 80 centimeters?
What particularly struck the supporters of a french national park about the new felling measures near fabrikschleichach was not only the high number of old beech trees that had been felled: many of the trunks lying on the ground had a diameter of 80 centimeters or more. Thus it is obvious that the state forestry enterprise does not keep to its own self-obligation and its own nature protection concept, trees with more than 80 centimeters of breast height, so-called methusaleme, not to fall. Conservationists fear that the northern steigerwald will lose its special protection status with the loss of the old beech trees.
In fact, according to the state forestry, felling has occurred on an area of about 60 hectares in the state forest near fabrikschleichach. Forestry manager ulrich mergner denies that trees thicker than 100 centimeters were also canceled in the process. "All forestry workers have strict instructions to remeasure trees between 70 and 80 centimeters."
25 strong trees per hectare remaining
The forestry expert defends the company’s goal of producing strong trees and using them as well. However, it is important to keep the number of books above 50 centimeters per hectare high. According to mergner, five of the 30 thick beech trees per hectare in fabrikschleichach were removed in the current cut. 25 were left over per hectare. Mergner warned against badmouthing a recognized ecological form of forest use with a high proportion of deadwood, such as is practiced in the steiger forest.
Siegfried standecke, mayor of michelau, also disagrees with the criticism of the state forestry enterprise’s work. He accuses the nature conservation alliance of making untenable demands. If the forestry company was prohibited from felling trees that had not yet reached a diameter of 80 centimeters, it would no longer be possible to fell any trees at all. "This was tantamount to a cessation of timber use." The mayor protects the forestry company from the accusations: it manages the steiger forest in an "internationally recognized, exemplary and sustainable" manner wise.
