Germany

The German forest covers an area of approximately 7.3 million ha. This corresponds to approximately 30 per cent of the total area of the Federal Republic (Hegar, 1985). Of this area, 42 per cent is forested with spruce, fir and Douglas fir; 27 per cent with pine, larch and other conifers; 8 per cent with oak; and 23 per cent with beech and other deciduous trees. More than 90 per cent of the forested area is high forest, which is primarily managed on the “compartment” system. Management is carried out by approximately 470 000 forestry firms, 23 per cent of which are pure forestry firms, and 77 per cent of which are agricultural enterprises which engage in some forest activities. The federal and state governments own 31 per cent of the forest, which are, in turn, managed by only about 0.2 per cent of the forestry firms. Twenty-five per cent of the forests belong to public corporations – mainly individual communities. These lands are managed by approximately 2.5 per cent of the forestry firms. Forty-four per cent of the forests are in private hands, mostly individuals, who manage them with the help of the remaining 97 per cent of forestry firms. These private forests are primarily in the form of agricultural enterprises, which also operate some forests (farm forests). At the present time, German forestry is facing three main problems:

Monetary losses. These are either absolute losses in income and wealth, or losses relative to other economic sectors;

The dying forest These include an acidifying forest, and the destabilization of wood ecosystems;

Plantation forestry. This refers to the afforestation of agricultural areas with fast-growing trees.