Germany: Why dying forests could be good news
In the central Harz region in Germany, over 90 percent of spruce trees are dead or dying because of climate change and insect damage. But they’re being replaced by a more resilient forest, with a more abundant ecosystem.
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00:00Big parts of Germany's forests used to look like this.
00:04But now they look like this.
00:07In just a couple of years, this decades-old forest has become unrecognisable.
00:12The same thing is happening in many parts of Germany, Europe and North America.
00:18But this isn't your typical the planet is dying story.
00:21This could actually be good news.
00:24But to understand why, let's backtrack a little bit.
00:27Or maybe more than a little bit.
00:29To the end of World War II.
00:31A lot of the world is in ruins and needs to be rebuilt.
00:35The Allied forces understandably want reparations from Germany.
00:39But it's broke.
00:41So they agree that the country will pay partly in materials.
00:44For example, timber. Lots of timber.
00:47According to some estimates equivalent to 10% of the country's forests.
00:52So now foresters need to replant big areas ASAP to rebuild Germany itself.
00:58And which tree did they choose?
01:00Mostly the spruce.
01:02Which, looking back, was maybe not the best decision.
01:06But at that time, it seemed like a good idea.
01:10To find out why, we're driving to Thuringia, in the centre of Germany,
01:14to meet Fanny Hurtig, a forester.
01:20Spruce is fast-growing.
01:22It regularly delivers straight, high-quality wood
01:25that can easily be processed at sawmills into furniture or flooring.
01:29It's used quite widely.
01:34That's why it's also a very lucrative tree.
01:37German foresters planted vast areas with them,
01:40in straight rows that make it easier to get in and harvest.
01:44Spruces are the most common tree in Germany
01:47and make up over a quarter of all forests.
01:50But that is changing rapidly.
01:52Because what made this monoculture so profitable
01:55is also what made it so vulnerable.
01:58Forests around the world are suffering
02:00from more intense and frequent droughts, wildfires and storms,
02:04weakening entire ecosystems.
02:06And Germany is no exception.
02:10The longer summers due to climate change
02:12mean the forests are too dry and the trees thirsty.
02:15Especially spruce trees.
02:17They comparatively need a lot of water,
02:19but their root system is quite shallow,
02:21so they can't access reservoirs deeper down.
02:25While that's not the best news for the trees or for humans,
02:29there is one little creature that loves what's happening right now.
02:33Enter the bark beetle.
02:35This tiny little insect has been munching its way
02:38through many of Germany's and Europe's forests.
02:41The bark beetle, of course, loves the bark.
02:44It bores holes into the tree
02:46and then releases pheromones to draw mate inside.
02:49There, they reproduce and lay eggs.
02:52A healthy tree usually produces resin to seal up the holes
02:56and to protect itself from the beetles.
02:58But thirsty, weak trees cannot.
03:01That's why the bark beetle is having a feast.
03:05Five years ago, this area was fully forested.
03:08If we're standing here now and say last year this area was infested,
03:12this year that area could also be infested in a matter of weeks.
03:16The beetles eat away layers that transport nutrients and water.
03:21The spruces then die of thirst and malnutrition.
03:25The beetle is steadily spreading across Europe.
03:28And the hotter it gets, the more beetles will breed.
03:32What a full-scale infestation looks like can be seen in Bark Beetle Central,
03:37which is the Harz National Park in the middle of Germany,
03:40where we're headed.
03:43Here, about 90% of all spruces are dead.
03:48The bark beetle has come, eaten and gone,
03:51leaving behind a region that is, quite frankly, shocking to look at.
03:56We're meeting Roland Piech, the head of the Harz National Park.
04:00The Harz region is hit so hard because it had a very big concentration of spruces.
04:06But for Piech and many others,
04:09this post-apocalyptic-looking scenario isn't a disaster, quite the opposite.
04:14For him, the bark beetle isn't the villain.
04:17It's actually a blessing in disguise.
04:21The question is what's happening here.
04:23And what's happening is that the old spruce trees are gone
04:26and the forest that belongs here is coming.
04:28When you see what kind of strength, how much life there is in it,
04:31it's beautiful, it's great and truly exciting here.
04:35The park cut down a section of the forest as a safety barrier
04:38so that the beetle will have a harder time spreading into neighbouring forests.
04:42But apart from that, the National Park decided to let nature be nature
04:46and did not fight the bark beetle.
04:49And nature is indeed doing its thing.
04:52Different areas of the National Park are treated differently.
04:55Some parts, where trees are springing up on their own,
04:58are left to their own devices, like this area that died off about six years ago.
05:03Some parts need a little bit of help,
05:05meaning formerly native species that were displaced by the spruce monocultures
05:09are being planted.
05:11Dead trees release CO2 as they decompose,
05:14which means that these forests overall bind less carbon dioxide,
05:18a problem also highlighted by the latest German National Forest Inventory.
05:23The hope is that the newly growing trees will soon bind more CO2
05:27than the dead trees release.
05:29But that's just one part of the story.
05:31The National Park is a protected area that cannot be used to produce timber anymore.
05:36But only around 3% of all forests in Germany is protected.
05:40The rest is governed by public or private foresters,
05:43for example to produce timber.
05:46And we'll probably be using more of it,
05:48since wood can be a very sustainable and renewable building material,
05:52managed and grown by foresters, like back in Thuringia.
05:57They need to take a different approach to the bark beetle.
06:00The trees are checked for infestation regularly.
06:03Once an infestation is found, the trees are marked.
06:06Then they are chopped down and removed as soon as possible
06:09to halt the spread of the beetle,
06:13leaving behind vast areas of prematurely felled trees.
06:18To prevent something like this from happening again,
06:20the approach here is to not only bet on one tree,
06:23but on a variety of trees.
06:26It's like with stocks. You diversify your portfolio to minimize risk.
06:31That's what we're trying to do with the mixed forest, too.
06:35This is Nico Frischbier, a scientist trying to identify the forest of the future.
06:42Here are some of the candidates.
06:45First are the OGs.
06:47Beech, oak and sycamore trees are adapted to lower elevations.
06:51They can survive with less water because their root systems are deeper.
06:55And other newcomers like the Douglas fir.
06:57Native to North America, Douglas firs can also handle more heat and droughts.
07:02These are currently seen as good candidates.
07:04But if we continue to heat up the planet, we will need to mix in some wild cards.
07:10To find out which ones may be suitable,
07:12the Thuringian forestry has been conducting a now over 10-year-old experiment
07:16in the driest region of the forest.
07:20It's more work because in a mixed forest you have to deal with various species of trees.
07:26They each have different risks and costs,
07:29so it's pricier all the way through to the marketing of the wood or other products.
07:36But from our point of view, it's worth it because it reduces the risk.
07:41You might have more expenses and a smaller yield,
07:44but for the forest owner, it carries less risk.
07:50This type of forestry, as well as the national parks approach,
07:54shows where a lot of international forests could be heading.
07:59It's also a chance to adapt to climate change or speed up the forest conversion,
08:03which would otherwise take much more time.
08:08It's good in terms of addressing the climate crisis,
08:12but it's good for resiliency as well as biodiversity.
08:16Even though it might look tragic, a new, better forest is already starting to grow.
08:21One that is more resilient than what we created before.
08:25And one that will hopefully weather and adapt to whatever is going to happen in the coming decades.