Munich (dpa/lby) - Thanks to lucrative funding, Bavaria's forest owners have implemented more nature conservation measures this year than ever before. "This is a new record for nature conservation in our forests in Bavaria: the Free State supported more than 4,800 measures this year, from individual biotope trees to small-scale waivers of use to the preservation of old-growth islands, with a good 11.4 million euros. That's around one million more than in the previous year," announced Forest Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU) and Environment Minister Thorsten Faithr (free voters) on Thursday at the start of the new application period in Munich.
The success of the application shows that nature conservation and forest management would go together: "The Bavarian forest owners are making a decisive contribution to more nature and species protection in their forests." The Bavarian Forest and Nature Conservation Administration would also advise interested forest owners on the question of how they can best integrate nature conservation measures into their forest.
The Bavarian Forest Contractual Nature Conservation Program, a joint funding program of both administrations, honors a wealth of nature conservation measures in forest areas, it said. In particular, around 90 percent of the measures focus on the preservation of dead wood and biotope trees, as the basis of life for rare species of fungus, moss, insects and lichen.
Private and municipal forest owners can still apply for grants for the coming year in the application period that has now started until May 31, 2023.
There are more than 2.5 million hectares of forest in Bavaria. This corresponds to about 36 percent of the total area of the Free State. This is by far the largest forest area of all 16 federal states. Bavaria's forests have been managed for centuries, and in the future more wind turbines are to be set up in the forests.
