Forest restructuring is necessary
The marktsteft forest must be made fit for climate change. This was made clear by forester achim volkacher at the council meeting on monday evening. However, it won’t be cheap, so some people are thinking of reforesting at least part of the 54 hectares owned by the city.
The starting point of the discussion was the annual operational plan for the forest. Accordingly, the city can earn a small profit of about 500 euros from the forest in the coming year. The forester is particularly concerned about the pine trees in the forest: they are suffering particularly from the dry and hot weather, and are even dying off. Especially the area of the wasenmeisterei is affected because of the south location. The problem: the market for pine is currently oversupplied, the felled trees can only be sold as firewood.
The situation is better with the oaks, which have deeper roots and thus better survived the hot summer. However: "we urgently need rain to ease the situation", said volkamer. In total, the marktstefters generate around 2500 euros through the sale of wood. But the main source of income is the state claim for the middle forest and some biotope trees with a good 3300 euro.
To make the forest fit for the future, volkamer advises replanting with a good mix of tree species that are better adapted to the expected weather on a flat of about eleven hectares. The costs per hectare are about 19.000 euro for plants and planting, fencing, maintenance and replanting. After deduction of the state claim, a residual amount of around 7,000 euros per hectare remains for the city.
"We should consider parting with the forest", said bernhard etzelmuller. Because today, the city no longer has an obligation to supply anyone, such as the schoolmaster, with wood. Dieter haag, who put at least a part of the forest at the disposal, saw it similarly. Dieter lang countered: "the stefters have little connection to the forest, which was brought in by the michelfelfelder in the territorial reform. Investments in the forest are investments in the future – the land can only be sold once.
In the end, the council unanimously approved the annual operating plan and decided, with two votes against, to include an annual amount of 7500 euros for forest restructuring in future budgets.
