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.