2022 Interdisciplin­ary field trip to the North German Lowland

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID we were finally able to run our interdisciplinary field trip to the North German Lowland again. During the eight-day excursion, the 39 participating students had the chance to get directly in touch with forest practice, analyze versatile forest situations and discuss current forest-related topics with experts on site.

The rainy start of the trip took place at the Tharandt bus terminal from where we first went to the Rochau Heath to learn about the pine forest management in the north German Pleistocene and enjoy the first rays of sun. Further points of interest along the following route were Sonae Arauco, a producer of wood-based materials, in Beeskow, the oak forest management in Bad Freienwalde and the beech forest management in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which illustrated the utilization and management of different tree species in state and private forests.  

Apart from these fundamental silvicultural and economic insights we also visited sites with regard to compensatory measures related to the construction of the A14 highway at Grabow as well as the dike translocation in the Elbe River Landscape Biosphere Reserve near Lenzen, where we spoke about the topics of forest conversion and replacement afforestation.

A real highlight was our visit to the Jasmund National Park on the penultimate day, which also was the northernmost site of our trip. During the hike along the chalk cliffs we discussed the soil ecology and forest growth on the Rügen island as well as the National Park management itself. Last, the world’s best bus driver drove us to the Jatznik seed drying facility to get to know the basic of each artificial forest regeneration: the harvest, processing and utilization of forest seeds.

The Chair of Forest Protection wants to thank all foresters, professors and staff for their support and enrichment of our field trip, because only due to this interdiscipliarity this trip is such an important part of the forestry bachelor’s degree in Tharandt. We also thank all students for their interest and vidid participation in all field trip situations!

Nordexkursion 2022