Waldsterben 2.0

Several times, I wrote about the German Wald (forest), a soul topic for most of my compatriots. Waldsterben, their ultimate sorrow, found its way into the English language already in the 1980s.

For Germans Waldsterben equals Götterdämmerung, “Erst stirbt der Wald, dann stirbt der Mensch (When forests die, men/women will follow)."

In 2015, I wrote cautiously optimistic: There is good news concerning oak trees. While in 2012, 50% of their tree-tops were sick, the figure dropped to 36% in 2014. Germany's agricultural minister commented on the positive trend: "Es ist schön, sagen zu können: Viel Laub auf Deutschlands Eichen (It is nice to be able to say: Much foliage on Germany's oaks)."

In the meantime, the situation has dramatically changed. The new emotive word is Kronenverlichtung (crown defoliation). The Waldsterben is back.

For several reasons, "The storms, the drought, the massive bark beetle infestation, and the increased forest fires in the past three years are the apocalyptic horsemen of climate change."

A bark beetle looking for a maiden spruce tree

Up to 10,000 bark beetles can infest one spruce tree. They are to blame for the mass death of the trees, which have no chance of survival. The animals found ideal conditions last year because 2020 was the third year with a dry summer after 2018 and 2019.

Insects are the leading cause of tree damage.

 Due to the lack of water, the beetles could easily invade spruce trees that later had to be felled en masse. In some federal states, even soldiers arrived to deal with dead trees. 245,000 hectares of trees were destroyed, and the supply of spruce wood has increased massively. 

Two-thirds of timber in Germany is from damaged trees

The result was rapidly falling prices - by around 35 percent in three years.

35% of the trees in Germany show a significant crown defoliation

The beech trees are even worse than the spruce, for only one in ten remains intact. Although fewer of these deciduous trees have been dying for more than ten years, up to 60 percent of them have been showing Kronenverlichtung, i.e., beech trees, are missing 25 percent or more of their average leaf mass. In 2020, more than half of all trees were in such poor condition.

What about the oak tree, the symbol of the German love of freedom, pride, power, and strength? It was balm to the Teutonic soul that the condition of the oak trees improved somewhat last year. The Forest Condition Survey Report notes, "The oak is thus showing the first signs of regeneration but remains at a high level of damage."

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