Forest management close to nature

Near-natural forest management (in the narrower sense) is a synonym for natural forest management and therefore also to permanent forest and ecological forest management. The term refers to an economic system that especially clear cutting freely and after the mixed forest principle wood production in forest runs and so much nature friendly than the conventional forest management in the system of the age group forest . The near-natural forest management is today the basis for sustainability certificates in forest management. The two most important seals of quality currently awarded for forest management are the PEFC and the FSC seals.

To the history of the term

It is not known who first used the term near-natural forest management . The movement for natural silviculture, to which the majority, primarily of the western federal states, is committed today in silviculture guidelines and recommendations to private and communal forest owners, came from private forestry and a few forest scientists. As early as the middle of the 19th century it became abundantly clear that the planted age-class forest would lead to gradual deterioration or even decline of the natural hardwood forests and to increasing land disasters in the coniferous forests. Accordingly, from the middle of the 19th century onwards, a small minority of forest scientists demanded to rely more on the rules of nature (e.g. König, Borggreve , Geyer, Roßäßler and many others). Building on this, the forest scientist Alfred Möller developed the permanent forest idea at the beginning of the 20th century - namely, how future forest management could work with nature and not against it. Above all, this idea of ​​permanent forest or forest organism, founded by Möller, later became the guiding principle for natural (synonymous with “natural”) forest management. The working group for natural forest management (ANW), which was founded by Möller's early supporters and whose specialist body is called the permanent forest, is based on it to this day. The ANW was founded in 1950 as a loose working group and independent association of private forest owners and forest scientists, today also civil servants and forest enthusiasts, in order to establish the idea of ​​permanent forest against that of the predominant, non-natural age-class forest.

The goals of the ANW are a .:

• No clear-cutting and consequently the consequent use of individual trees in mixed-age forests with many species of trees;
• Fundamental priority of natural regeneration through natural sowing;
• Stock economy, d. H. Maintenance of the standing stock according to the rule "the bad falls first";
• Holistic view of the forest as a permanent, diverse and dynamic ecosystem, taking into account the "continuity" of the forest in the sense of the permanent forest idea (according to Alfred Möller, "organism idea").
• Naturally occurring processes in forest ecosystems should be used consistently to optimize natural forest management.
• The focus is on economic goals. They can only be achieved sustainably and generally optimally if ecological requirements are observed.
• The forest's social and protective functions are usually “automatically” fulfilled within the framework of natural forest management.

What near-natural forest management actually is is still subject to a comprehensive process of dialogue and discussion about the near-natural nature of silviculture, since the term is not a defined technical term and therefore encourages misuse. In any case, its narrow, ecologically precise meaning is synonymous with natural forest management (permanent forest, see above)

Semantically, the term was first used in 1986 by the Zurich silvicultural professor Hans Leibundgut , who describes near-natural forest management as follows:

“By“ near-natural forest management ”I mean, on the other hand, a less narrowly restricted economic method, which is largely based on natural conditions, but can change the natural forest in terms of structure and tree species mix and even enrich it with non-indigenous 'guest tree species', as long as the natural relationship of the forest is achieved is not adversely affected. "

Several German forest administrations later adopted this term and used it to “headline” their respective actions. In 1987 the term was used by the Saarland state government for the concept for natural forest management in the public forests of Saarland , for which Minister Hajo Hoffmann was responsible . This expressly meant the turn to permanent forests on the entire public forest area of ​​the Saarland in the sense of the ANW.

The concept envisaged:

1. Consistent renunciation of clear-cutting with the use of individual trees (for the first time in the entire public forest of a federal state),
2. gentle operating techniques ( man and horse , ban on driving on forest floors, for the first time in Germany),
3. Natural regeneration priority (with native hardwood),
4. Chemical freedom (nationwide waiver of biocides and other chemical agents, for the first time in Germany),
5. a deadwood strategy in managed forests (for the first time in Germany), and
6. a concept for active forest conservation in the course of forest management .

The reform program initiated by the Saarland forestry chief Wilhelm Bode was initially interrupted when he was replaced in the course of the Lafontaine affair and changed a little later and continued less consistently. Essential elements of the program were later adopted by many state forest administrations because of the political and public attractiveness of the near-natural forest management.

Without initially developing concrete and - to the prevailing forest cultivation - deviating ideas, z. For example, the term has been used in Baden-Württemberg since the 1970s in guidelines and concepts for silviculture in state forests. Later (1993) six silviculture-specific elements - albeit inoperational and not very binding - were defined as the heart of the concept of near-natural forest management in Baden-Württemberg:

• Closeness to nature and location reference when choosing tree species;
• ecological and physical stability of forests;
• Mixed forest principle and gradation;
• Focus on natural regeneration;
• silvicultural sustainable, adapted game stocks;
• Quality and stability-oriented maintenance of the stocks.

However, there has recently been a trend towards the permanent forest idea (comparable to the ANW and the Saarland program from 1987) in the "near-natural" silvicultural programs in some federal states - especially from the point of view of the climatic plasticity of forests (e.g. B. Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhelnland-Palatinate, etc.), even if this development is by no means sufficient or has been completed and has also recently been threatened again by an interest in renewable energy resources (energy wood).

See also

• Sustainability (forestry)

literature

• Hans Leibundgut (1986): Goals and ways of near-natural forest management. Switzerland.Z.Forstwes. 137, 245-250
• Ulrich Kohnle and Joachim Klädtke, waldwissennet. Near-natural silviculture in Baden-Württemberg: a balance sheet
• MLR (1993): Forests, Ecology and Nature Conservation - Performance Balance and Ecology Program of the State Forest Administration of Baden-Württemberg . Ministry for Rural Areas, Food, Agriculture and Forests Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, p. 128
• Hermann Graf Hatzfeldt (Ed.): Ecological forest management. Basics - aspects - examples. Alternative Concepts, No. 88. 2nd, revised edition. Ecology & Agriculture Foundation. Müller, Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-7880-9888-0 .
• Wilhelm Bode , Martin von Hohnhorst: Waldwende - From the forest forest to the natural forest . 4th edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-45984-6 .
• Wilhelm Bode (Ed.): Natural forest management. Process protection or biological sustainability ? , Holm 1997, ISBN 3-930720-31-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Who is the ANW? ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ANW web presence. 
2. ↑ The goals of the ANW ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2013 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. , ANW web presence 
3. ^ H. Leibundgut (1986): Aims and ways of near-natural forest management. Switzerland.Z.Forstwes. 137, 245-250
4. ↑ in summary: Minister for Economic Affairs: Silviculture Framework Directive for the Management of Public Forests in Saarland , Basic Decree, Saarbrücken 1992, OCLC 46184892
5. ↑ Ulrich Kohnle and Joachim Klädtke, waldwissennet. Near-natural silviculture in Baden-Württemberg: a balance sheet
6. ↑ MLR (1993): Forest, Ecology and Nature Conservation - Performance Balance and Ecology Program of the State Forest Administration Baden-Württemberg . Ministry for Rural Areas, Food, Agriculture and Forests Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, p. 128
7. ↑ Lutz Fähser, Joachim Wille: "We need natural forests". Climate Reporter, 2019, accessed on July 16, 2019 (German).