Wooden sticks in a bare forest area mark the places where Norway maple and white elm are soon to grow.

The young trees are planted in the ground at Winterstein near Ober-Mörlen in Wetterau.

After three years of drought, reforestation work is underway throughout Hesse.

By the end of the year, the state forest should be stocked with 5.5 million new trees.

"We are currently planting over 20 different tree species in order to make the mixed forest of the future diverse and adaptable," says Michelle Sundermann from the Hessen Forestry Agency, who is responsible in particular for the state-owned and municipal forest.

The 5.5 million young trees are enough to reforest around 1500 hectares - the damaged areas in the state forest are, however, significantly larger.

According to Sundermann, around 30,000 hectares of open space have been created since 2018, the first of three dry years in a row.

That is about nine percent of the total area.

In the forests, especially in the north and west of Hesse, walkers repeatedly come across bare aisles.

A mammoth task

The drought of recent years has weakened countless trees and especially spruces to such an extent that they died, were knocked over by storms or – above all – fell victim to the bark beetle.

The result: large-scale deforestation.

Reforestation is a mammoth task.

And expensive: Hessen Forst expects five euros per tree planted until he is out of the woods.

So far, more than eleven million trees have been planted on the damaged areas that have been created since 2018.

More than 20 million euros have been invested in material costs for this – not counting expenses for personnel and administration, maintenance and improvements.

Not every area has to be completely replanted.

One prefers to work with natural forest regeneration.

“But especially where previously there were only spruces over a large area, we now have to bring in different tree species so that it’s not just the spruce that regenerates here.” Regrowth is left to nature where a forest develops that is appropriate to the location and what is expected climate of the future is adapted.

"We want to use this natural regeneration on about half of the current damaged area in the Hessian state forest," says Sundermann.

1400 hectares of afforestation

In the area of ​​the Weilrod forestry office, which also includes the Winterstein, 1400 hectares have to be reforested.

"We need about ten years until we have reforested all open spaces," says Thomas Götz, who works in the forestry office and in Hesse Forest.

External companies in particular are used for this.

In order to decide which tree species can be settled in times of climate change, the foresters rely on current forecasts of how much water the trees will have available at a certain location in the future.

"The trees that we plant today should still be as stable as possible in 50, 80 and 100 years," says Götz.

The foresters use location-specific maps on which the predicted terrain water balance and the potential for different tree species are marked.

"The redder, the drier," Götz explains the color scale of the cards.

For example, where it is likely to be too dry for the sycamore maple in the future, the sessile oak could still thrive.

Several bare spots on the Winterstein are currently being prepared for replanting.

The placeholder wooden sticks for Norway maple and white elm, among other things, are stuck in the ground on a 1.4 hectare large tree stump wasteland.

There used to be spruce trees.

According to Götz, each location is reforested with four tree species that are considered suitable for creating a more climate-proof forest.

There are also those species that settle on their own.

One thing is clear: "We don't want any more monocultures." Every now and then the forest administration gets support from volunteers: At Winterstein, for example, a local company wants to plant young red alders in the ground, which are packed into small bundles and ready at the designated place.

"See too much activism"

Conservationists are also skeptical about afforestation: "We see too much actionism there," says Mark Harthun, Managing Director of the Hesse Nature Conservation Union (Nabu).

"We advise you to be more patient with reforestation, i.e. to give nature time for regeneration." Even if it takes ten to 20 years longer, people are counting on more natural forest development leading to better climate adaptation in the forests .

People can help out where nothing will come up by itself in a few years.

To grow, the freshly planted trees need as much water as possible and little game to tamper with them.

The rainy summer of 2021 had a very positive effect on the forest growth, says Hessen forest spokeswoman Sundermann.

The young trees could have grown well.

“The extensive rainfall and lack of heat also did the older trees good.

However, many trees have been so severely damaged by the heat and drought of previous years that a wet summer is by no means sufficient for complete regeneration.” Overall, according to Sundermann, the condition of the Hessian forest is still worrying – but by no means hopeless.

"The forest will be able to regenerate and adapt to changing climatic conditions." But that takes a lot of time.