For many it is a nice childhood memory: fetching the Christmas tree from the forest with their parents themselves. This is still possible today in the Thuringian state forest.
Erfurt/Oberhof (dpa/th) - Thuringians can choose their own Christmas tree in the state forest and even cut it themselves in some forest offices. Ten of the 24 forest offices were offering trees and brushwood this year, mainly from forest maintenance, the state forest institute said on request.
This includes the Finsterbergen forestry office, which only sells local spruce trees, which can also be felled on several days in mid-December. The forestry offices of Leinefelde, Bad Berka, Erfurt-Willrode, Weida, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt and Schönbrunn also took part in the campaign on different days.
As a rule, it is local spruce, fir, pine or Douglas fir that is suitable as a Christmas tree, said a spokesman for Thüringenforst. Their natural growth means that the perfect look of a plantation tree is not always achieved. The trees do not have to travel long distances to do this and have not been chemically or mechanically treated.
Many Christmas trees from the range of forestry offices were used for maintenance work, said Thuringia forest board member Volker Gebhardt. Their removal means that the native forest is stabilized because the remaining trees have more room to grow. Some forest offices offer trees until December 23rd.
According to the state forest institute, around 10,000 of the average one million Christmas trees sold in Thuringia each year come from the local state forest. Some of them also come from special reforestation on power lines or under power lines, where for safety reasons trees are not allowed to grow too much.
