After 15 years, the forest owners in Saxony-Anhalt have a new leader. On Saturday, the members of the forest owners’ association unanimously elected Friederike von Beyme as the new chairwoman. The organization announced this on request. The forester replaces Franz Prinz zu Salm-Salm, who did not stand for re-election.
Von Beyme studied forestry and has been running a forestry business in southern Harz with her husband since 2002, where she also lives with her family. Von Beyme told the German Press Agency that funding instruments will be needed in the next few years that also allow the planting of previously non-native species. “We need alternatives.” This could be the Douglas fir, for example. You have to rely on species that react more adapted to climate change.
Salm-Salm had repeatedly vehemently pointed out the disastrous conditions in Saxony-Anhalt’s forests. The federal government does not take its responsibility for the reforestation of the many bare areas in the country, he emphasized again and again. The state of Saxony-Anhalt is “poor as a church mouse” and cannot handle the afforestation that many areas urgently need.
The association recently spoke of “at least around 50,000 hectares” to be afforested – in Saxony-Anhalt alone. With a hectare rate for mixed forest of 10,000 euros, this corresponds to a total financial requirement of around 500 million euros. “If we assume that more than half of the areas to be afforested are in private and municipal forests, then we are talking about a minimum requirement of around 250 million euros,” Salm-Salm explained at the beginning of the year. The current funds were “not enough at the back and front”. According to the Ministry of Forestry, the state had contributed around 3.5 million euros for the afforestation of private and municipal forests in 2022.
According to its own statements, the forest owners’ association represents the interests of private, municipal and church forest owners in Saxony-Anhalt vis-à-vis politicians, authorities and business. It is divided into the three regional groups Altmark, Anhalt, Harz and Burgenland.
