Storms, drought and bark beetles were the enemies of the German forest last year.
The Federal Statistical Office reported on Thursday in Wiesbaden that 83.0 million cubic meters of wood were felled there in 2021 than at any time since statistics began.
50.5 million cubic meters were so-called damaged wood, i.e. prematurely felled, diseased trees.
In the previous year, even 60.1 million cubic meters of the 80.4 million cubic meters were damaged wood.
The most common reason for the premature impact was damage caused by insects, with a share of 81.4 percent.
With a share of 7.9 percent, drought was the second most important cause of damaged wood, ahead of the storms.
The bark beetle mainly targeted the spruce stands.
Almost two-thirds of the harvest (39.4 million cubic meters) of this type of wood was felled because of insect infestation.
Altogether, softwoods (spruce, fir, Douglas fir and others) made up three quarters of the total felling with 62.2 million cubic meters.