65 years ago, as a precaution, foresters put up forest fire barriers to protect the forests from fire. In years with enough rain, the knowledge fell into oblivion – but is now becoming more and more important.
Derenburg (dpa/sa) – Spruces shaped the Harz Mountains for many decades. The conifers grew quickly and were used for wood production. In times of climate change, rain is becoming scarce, and hardly anywhere else are the consequences more evident than in the Harz Mountains. The flat-rooted plants literally die of thirst and become victims of the bark beetle. Large areas of fallow land with dead or felled trees characterize the low mountain range. In many places, spruces have been victims of forest fires. Their resin makes them particularly vulnerable to fire.
There are also spruces in the city forest of Derenburg. But here a district forester created a forest fire barrier 65 years ago, as Mayor André Salomon shows. It’s 1.5 acres. “South of us is a spruce forest that grows on rocks, so it gets very little water. If something happened at the lookout there, the fire would eat through the forest.” Salomon, who is also a firefighter, knows how devastating forest fires rage in spruce forests. But the red oaks have been protecting the spruce population for 65 years.
“The red oak comes from North America,” explains Thomas Roßbach. He heads the forest management office, which also includes the Derenburg municipal forest. The huge trees stand close together. It’s dark beneath them. Similar to nut trees, ground vegetation hardly has a chance here. As a result, a fire finds no food. “The foliage of the red oak is also fire retardant. This naturally prevents the spread of forest fires.”
The knowledge of the ancestors has been forgotten in years with more precipitation. André Salomon is happy about the forest ranger’s foresight and about her experiment with the forest fire bar. Today, the foresters are following their example and planting young red oak stands again, which will fully develop their fire-retardant effect in 35 years. In view of the increasing drought, Thomas Roßbach thinks it makes sense to establish the red oak to contain or prevent forest fires. “I’m sure it will pay off,” said the forester.
Especially in the dry summers, the risk of forest fires increases significantly. In the first half of 2022, the Landeszentrum Wald recorded more than twice as many forest fires as in the entire previous year.
