Wood mobilization

In forestry, wood mobilization describes the entirety of organizational, advisory and logistical activities that are intended to increase the extent of the actual logging ( wood harvest ). The background to this is the fact that, according to the second federal forest inventory in 2002, compared to the first inventory in 1987, the wood stocks in the stands have grown significantly, caused by the outweighing of the re-growing over the harvested quantities ( growth ). By mobilizing wood, the sustainable possible use of the forest should be better exploited. On the one hand, great potential is seen in private forests and especially in small and micro- private forests, which are often only used extensively for economic purposes. On the other hand, general optimization potential is seen in the management of forest areas in areas such as harvest, logistics and marketing.

Sustainable exploitation of potential

With rising raw material prices for crude oil and natural gas and the increasing discussion about climate protection, the renewable raw material wood is seen as a promising option for both material and energetic use of biomass . Despite these ecological and economic framework conditions, part of the existing potential has not yet been used.

“The annual wood growth in Germany (according to the second federal forest inventory of 2002) is around 95 million solid cubic meters , around 67 million solid cubic meters are used. This means that about 70% of the wood growth is used. About 29% of the increase between 1987 and 2002 was accumulated. In purely mathematical terms, a third more wood could be harvested today without impairing the forest's ability to regenerate (principle of sustainability). "

Obstacles to use

Wood harvester

Forest path

Experience shows that even under the currently favorable general conditions of rising wood prices, this sustainable biomass potential is not fully exploited. There are many reasons for the existing non-use.

Motivation of the forest owners

Particularly in the small-scale private forest , where a large part of the unused reserves is located, various reasons prevent more intensive use. 47% of the wood supply is privately owned, including 28% in small private forests up to 20 ha:

• Many small private forest owners have reached an age at which they can no longer actively work in the forest
• Many forest owners of urban origin have no economic interests in use, but often take their forest in an aesthetic and relaxing dimension.
• Especially with urban forest owners, it often happens that the exact location or the boundary of the areas are not known. This results in high transaction costs for joint forest management that promises low processing costs and better marketing opportunities .

Harvest, logistics and marketing

In addition to the lack of motivation on the part of forest owners, immature usage concepts or difficult conditions can prevent their use:

• The growth potential of forests is often underestimated,
• On farms there is an increasing lack of time and manpower for forest work.
• A fragmentation of the ownership structure (small parcels as a result of the real division ) prevent the economic use of fully mechanized timber harvesting systems.
• In addition, large parts of the small private forest are hardly accessible for machine use with forest and ridges .
• Where wood is processed motor-manually, i.e. with a chainsaw instead of harvesting machines (e.g. wood harvesters ), more and more of the wood is no longer on the market as firewood for personal consumption.

Approach wood mobilization

In addition to the possibility of forest land consolidation , which brings about larger structures and also a more economical development of the forest areas, wood mobilization is primarily available.

“The term wood mobilization has been used in forestry for several years in connection with the results of large-scale forest inventories in Austria and Germany, according to which there is considerable additional potential for use in the forests. Wood mobilization aims to increase logging in order to reduce excess wood and to orient the amount of use to the increase ” .

In addition to motivating private forest owners to use the renewable wood, the focus of wood mobilization is on technical support by improving the harvest, logistics and marketing. Proven forerunners of wood mobilization are so-called "forestry associations", regional cooperations between forest owners for joint or inter-company management of the forest.

procedure

As a rule, the wood mobilization takes place in a joint initiative of several partners from business and industry. In order to ascertain the current situation, the ownership structure and the location of the parcels are first recorded: digital boundary, stand and path maps of the forest owners, the stock book number and the corresponding boundary of their properties are registered. Database-based information systems are used to manage the data, some with links to geographic information systems ( GIS ). This registration is a prerequisite for the spatial concentration and bundling of felling measures as well as for the organization of logistics, removal and distribution of the wood money. In addition, information on the forest condition of the respective properties is collected, i.e. main tree species , age, estimated stock and maintenance condition. The collection of data from all forest owners can be very laborious - especially with numerous small forest owners - the use of public data is not always possible for data protection reasons.

The mobilization of wood stocks and the optimization of processes can only be successful if current data is available and continuously updated. The provision of this data often proves to be quite difficult.

With a number of service and coordination offers, wood mobilization actors make it easier for forest owners to use the wood growth in their stands:

• Finding and raising awareness among forest owners
• Advice and support for private forest owners
• Complete order (labeling, processing and marketing)
• Bundling of the stock of neighboring forest owners to focus on use and joint marketing (with self-processing)
• Information events
• Organization of private forest owners
• Coordination between owners, forest management companies, silvicultural associations, forest administrations and the wood processing industry

Overall, regional cooperation between the various actors is important. A lot depends on the motivation and commitment of the various partners.

Projects

Various projects for wood mobilization were z. B. suggested by the Holzabsatzfonds (HAF, dissolved on August 31, 2009), the federal states and private initiatives:

• Inclusion of a mobilization premium for wood in the funding principles of the joint task of agricultural structure and coastal protection (GAK) of the federal states (see Section 1 of the Federal Forest Act (BWaldG))
• HAF projects in cooperation with the forest administrations of several federal states and various institutes
• "Funding program for raw wood mobilization" of the HAF for the purpose of information transfer, education and motivation of multipliers and actors as well as model projects in the Lausitz and in the Eifel
• Funding programs of the forest climate fund and the specialist agency for renewable raw materials e. V. (FNR) or the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) as the sponsor of the FNR:
  • "Logistics, wood supply, market research for the targeted supply of wood"
  • "Development of new mobilization and logistics concepts for the increased use of wood"
  • "Climate protection through small private forests - for owners and society" (KKEG) :
    • Survey of citizens without forest and forest owners about wishes and demands on the forest by the Thünen Institute for International Forest Management and Forest Economics (Hamburg) , the results are available at https://www.waldbefragung.de/
    • Development and testing of online services for forest owners and forest service providers such as https://www.waldhilfe.de/ and https://wald-marktplatz.de/ by wald-wird-mobil.de gGmbH
  • WIKI-Web2.0 for the competence network Climate Change, Crisis Management and Transformation in Forest Ecosystems
  • New consulting services for forestry associations - climate-adapted management in small and medium-sized private forests
  • Improvement of the climate protection performance of managed forests through joint management of the small and micro-private forests in NRW

There are also many other projects, including in Austria and Switzerland.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} S. Behrendt, L. Erdmann, C. Henseling, J. Rupp: Perspektiven der Holzmobilisierung. To strengthen sustainable future markets in the forestry and timber industry. Thesis paper for the workshop on June 26, 2006 in Berlin . Berlin 2006. PDF  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Becker, G., Wippel, B., Borchers, J. 2006. Wood mobilization in small private forests. Holzabsatzfonds supports implementation projects in Lusatia and the Eifel. AFZ / DerWald 61, pp. 114–116.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Kasberger 2007: Wood mobilization and inter-company cooperation in small private forests. Online  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Information from the HAF at the Wood Mobilization Information Service ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Projects for wood mobilization in cooperation with the HAF, on the page "Information Service Wood Mobilization" ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Information on topics and projects in the field of wood mobilization , on the forest knowledge page , financed by several public bodies

Web links

• Information service wood mobilization , online service of the wood sales fund (HAF) (The site bundles and networks information on wood mobilization for multipliers and decision-makers in private forest management, the page will no longer be updated after the HAF was dissolved in August 2009)
• Information and examples for the mobilization of logging reserves , information portal of the German forest and timber industry, operated by the HAF
• First and second national forest inventory (results of previous surveys, goals and methods, estimates of the potential raw wood volume over the next 40 years and the associated potential forest development)
• waldwissen.net - Dossier Wood Mobilization
• Final report of the HAF model project "Wood mobilization in small private forests" , 12/2008, 116 pages, as pdf