Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - After a brief sigh of relief, heat, drought and pests have hit the forest in the southwest again. While the cool and damp weather gave the attacked Baden-Württemberg trees a breather last year, their condition has now slightly deteriorated again. The reasons are the heat of summer 2022 and the bark beetle as well as the lack of precipitation in spring. This emerges from the forest condition report 2022, which Forest Minister Peter Hauk (CDU) wants to present on Monday (10.30 a.m.) in Stuttgart.
"The results of the forest condition report are worrying," said the minister. The breather was too short. According to the experts, almost half of the forest area in Baden-Württemberg is clearly damaged.
When surveying the condition of the forest, the thinning of the crown, i.e. the loss of leaves or needles, is recorded as a measure of the state of health of the trees. According to the Ministry of Forestry, thousands of trees were examined in the summer using a systematic sampling network.
