Heat, extreme drought leading to forest fires - and there is no longer-lasting rain in sight for the next few days.
Hesse's forests are suffering from the extreme weather, and the trees will probably suffer further massive damage.
That's what Michelle Sundermann, spokeswoman for the Hessenforst state office, said in an interview with this newspaper.
She warns walkers not to leave the paths, because with beech trees, for example, it is difficult to tell if the tree is already badly damaged.
The forester also fears that there will be more fires in the forest and warns of the beginning of a vicious circle in Hesse's forests.
The problems of the past few years have now worsened.
In the past few days, there have been repeated fires in Hesse due to the extreme drought.
Hundreds of firefighters worked for hours to put out the fires in the forests.
The Ministry of the Environment had already declared the second highest alert level on Monday, and fire brigades across the country are on heightened alert.
An easing of the situation is not in sight for the time being - on the contrary.
"I fear that the number of forest fires will increase.
We already had 65 fires in an area of ten hectares in the past week,” said Sundermann and added: “What depresses me most is that in the vast majority of cases it is man-made forest fires, for example when someone smokes in the forest or makes a fire .
The fire devil in the area of the Langen forestry office is really bad.
Sundermann himself lives in a wooden house on the edge of the forest.
"I said to my family at the weekend, what are we going to do if there's a fire here?
What are we taking with us,” she reported, adding that she had never thought about such a danger before.
Those times are over.
The family will now draw up a plan of what things they will take with them if there is a fire in the forest and they have to flee their house.
Not enough water since 2018
But it doesn't need a fire to damage the forest.
“The condition of the Hessian forests continues to give cause for concern.
Due to the drought, the problems that have accumulated over the past few years have now worsened," the forester described the situation.
There has been too little water since 2018, and this has not improved over the past year either.
“The deeper water reservoirs are still underfilled.
It's just way too dry," she said, making it clear that the rainy winter wasn't enough to fill up the groundwater reservoir.
According to new figures, the result is worrying: around 39,000 hectares have been damaged in the Hessian state forest.
That is more than ten percent of the total of 342,000 hectares of state forest.
Municipal and private forests are not included in this number.
The Hessian forest area grew by around 4800 hectares between 2002 and 2012.
Sundermann suspects that current counts will show that the area has also grown in recent years.
However, the damaged area cannot compensate for this.
"The spruces would have died by now at the latest, but they are no longer there," said the spokeswoman.
The current heat wave, which is having a particularly strong impact in southern Hesse, is now threatening all tree species.
When booking, you only recognize this in retrospect.
"Trees convey a continuous flow of water through their pathways, when that flow stops because there isn't enough water, air gets into the pathways and it's like an embolism," she explained, warning walkers not to leave the forest trails .
"I've seen beeches where the bark was already peeling off the trunk, but the crown was still green," she said.
If it stays this hot and dry in the coming weeks, Sundermann expects even more damage to the beeches.
“The beech is our main tree species.
35 percent of the state forest area in Hesse is covered with beech," she explained.
It is very difficult for walkers to recognize dying beeches.
“It can be life-threatening,” she clarifies.
Firewood demand exceeds supply
According to them, the drought is also causing considerable damage to the soil.
If these dry out, this also means the death of many soil organisms such as bacteria and fungi, but also isopods and earthworms.
This in turn means that the soil is no longer ventilated as well, which in turn impedes the growth of the trees.
"This creates a real vicious circle," Sundermann explained the effects of the current weather and warned: "We all haven't really understood what's coming.
I'm afraid it will get worse."
Despite the many trees that have to be felled, there will still be no more firewood from Hesse's forests.
Currently, due to the gas crisis, demand far exceeds supply.
According to Sundermann, this is due to the fact that Hessenforst "harvests wood" sustainably, namely only as much as grows back.
Even if a lot of firewood is imported from abroad, firewood can never be a full substitute for gas, coal or oil, but only a building block.
"If everyone builds a fireplace in the living room, we certainly won't have enough firewood." Due to the large number of felled spruce trees, there was an oversupply that had long since been skimmed off.
"We are already experiencing the greatest possible support that is politically possible," says the forest assessor, but qualifies that this could be different for private forest owners.
However, there are limits to the reforestation of the Hessian forests, such as insufficient seed availability.
"These plants simply don't exist, where are they supposed to come from," asks the forester and is in favor of continuing to manage the forest in the future.
This is the only way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.