Conception and design of a large-scale experiment for the renaturation of pure pine stands (RenaKi)

As a result of intensive timber production, many thousands of hectares of forest in Germany and Central Europe are characterized by large, structurally poor pure pine stands. This applies equally to large parts of the so-called natural heritage areas, which were handed over to the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) by the German government and which DBU Naturerbe GmbH, a non-profit subsidiary of the DBU, will secure for nature conservation in the long term.
As in many other protected areas, there is a desire to restore the forests in the natural heritage areas to a near-natural state as quickly as possible with minimal intervention and to avoid human intervention in the future. Closely linked to this is the goal of controlling and protecting the natural processes that are becoming established in these areas.
Target-oriented measures can restore the forests to a near-natural state relatively quickly, but the establishment of near-natural processes in the forest dynamics is delayed by these anthropogenic interventions. In contrast, a process protection concept allows a comparatively rapid initiation of near-natural processes, but the forest condition remains in a state far removed from nature for a relatively long time in view of the initial situation.
The aim of this project is therefore to design a large-scale experiment for the renaturation of pure pine stands, which will document the long-term effects of various renaturation measures on forest structure, biodiversity, vegetation and soil. Further information