Regionalstudie Harz

The densely wooded Harz Mountains are particularly hard hit by bark beetle damage. Large disturbed areas have fundamentally changed the landscape; Forest management, the balance of nature and water, and biodiversity have all been severely affected. The widely visible forest damage is causing further problems that affect forest management and the timber and tourism industries. Due to large opened areas, the region is facing a new beginning. When reforesting the area, it is important to not only consider requirements of forest management and the timber industry but also the impact on tourism, ecosystem services, and climate risks.

The project "Regional study Harz – Development scenarios for reforestation and its socio-economic effects" (REHA) develops different regeneration scenarios that include effects on forest enterprises of different ownership and climate scenarios. Silvicultural concepts are analysed with regard to their impact on economy, wood products, tourism, and ecosystem services under different climate scenarios. The results are aimed at public and private forest owners with large open spaces, wood processing companies, and the tourism industry in the Harz Mountains. Together with practice partners, digital tools are being developed to help with the selection of climate-adapted tree species and silvicultural treatment. Factors such as a changing climate, working methods, game population, and utilisation requirements are taken into account during the process.
Through the public relations work of the tourism association and the involvement of schools and citizen science, the aim is to raise awareness for the need of a sustainable forest reorganization among both the local population as well as guests to the region. This is intended to lead to a positive impact, both internally and externally, on the topic of “reforestation and forest reorganisation” in the Harz Mountains.

In Sub-Project 6: Empirical and model-based operational analysis , the economic analysis of the different reforestation scenarios is carried out. First, economic indicators will be collected from demonstration areas, i.e. successful reforestation examples of past calamity areas. In the next step, the empirical data collected will be incorporated into the model calculations of different reforestation scenarios. The definition of these scenarios considers both pioneer tree species, such as birch or rowan, and highly productive tree species, such as Douglas fir. Various key economic figures are to be derived for the different reforestation scenarios in order to quantify the short, medium, and long-term consequences of the scenarios. Based on this, the spatial-temporal area allocation of the reforestation scenarios is to be optimized for a model enterprise. Different objectives, such as economic performance and restrictions, e.g. uniform investment load, are taken into account. Later on, the model will be extended to include ecological and social ecosystem services. This will allow for the derivation of not only consequences for forest enterprises and possible conflicts of objectives and leverage effects, but also compromise solutions.

Persons in charge:
Ottens, L.; Paul, C.; Döbbeler, H.

Funded by:
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) as part of the funding programme "Regionale Innovationsgruppen für eine klimaschützende Wald. und Holzwirtschaft" (REGULUS)