Silviculture in a changing climate: Methods for the conversion of existing stands to climate change-friendly forests (WAIKLIM)

Content: Foresters around the world are facing the challenge of managing forest areas sustainably in the face of a changing environment. Pure stands, increasing droughts and severe weather conditions require forest management strategies to be adapted in many places. WAIKLIM investigates the effects of different degrees of loosening of existing stands on the water balance of the site and thus also on the growth of regeneration in the context of climate change.

For the study, forest stands of the state enterprise Sachsenforst (SBS) are selected in a targeted manner, loosened and planted with the forest-relevant tree species English oak, beech, Douglas fir and silver fir. The interactions between old trees, regeneration and ground vegetation in relation to the water balance are the core of the investigation and provide information for a subsequent software-based spatial optimization to determine an optimal stand structure in the context of a transfer. In addition, the risk of storm damage is simulated in order to be able to derive the most holistic recommendations possible for transfer strategies.