display
Wolfsburg (dpa / lni) - To underline the importance of the forest for Lower Saxony, Agriculture Minister Barbara Otte-Kinast planted a tree in Wolfsburg.
Together with Mayor Klaus Mohrs (SPD), the CDU politician planted a service tree in the urban forest on Thursday.
"For us in Lower Saxony, reforestation and forest conversion are currently among the greatest challenges that climate change brings with it," said Otte-Kinast.
The background to the action is that the country financially supports the reforestation of the communal forests, as the ministry announced.
"Together with federal funds, around 32.5 million euros will be available for forest support in 2021," it said.
The service tree is a deciduous tree that can grow around 30 meters high.
"Unfortunately, these tree species cannot be obtained from natural regeneration and must therefore be planted," said Wolfsburg's city forester Dirk Schäfer.
Attention is paid to a good mixture so that the new forest can hopefully cope with higher temperatures and pronounced drought.
display
The responsible department describes the situation of the forest in Lower Saxony as dramatic.
Not only the spruce trees of the Harz, but also the beech trees showed that heat and drought affected them.
Since autumn 2017, the damage has totaled around 45,000 hectares of forest and 18 million cubic meters of damaged wood.
The reforestation of the areas will cost around 300 million euros.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210422-99-313444 / 2
PM