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🇩🇪 Germany /Environment & Climate

Autumn forest walks after drought: How safe are they?

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Context piece
  • Drought following an exceptionally hot summer has weakened forests in Hesse and increased concerns about falling branches and renewed wildfire risk.
  • Forest expert Christoph von Eisenhart Rothe advises visitors to stay on marked paths, look up for damaged trees and avoid smoking or lighting fires.
  • He says climate change will make forests less healthy and could give drought-tolerant species a larger role than beech and oak.

The safest way to walk through a forest this autumn may be to look up as often as down. After an exceptionally hot and dry summer, Hesse’s forests are in poor condition, and experts warn that the wildfire season is not yet over.

The condition of the forests after the drought of this extreme summer is bad.

· Christoph von Eisenhart RotheHe described the condition of Hesse’s forests after the exceptionally dry summer.

“The condition of the forests after the drought of this extreme summer is bad,” said Christoph von Eisenhart Rothe of the Hesse branch of the German Forest Protection Association. “This summer topped everything we had experienced in the drought years from 2018 to 2023.”

Older trees suffered, but younger ones did too. Von Eisenhart Rothe said many young trees had been lost. The forest, he added, is never completely free of danger: visitors can trip in a hollow or be struck by a falling branch. Native forest species, however, are generally less prone to the sudden branch failures associated with poplars in parks.

This summer topped everything we had experienced in the drought years from 2018 to 2023.

· Christoph von Eisenhart RotheHe compared the latest summer with previous drought years.

Visitors can reduce the risk by remaining on paths instead of walking cross-country. “It is advisable not only to watch where you step in the forest, but also to look up,” he said. People should go around trees that lean or have broken branches. He also urged visitors to behave as guests in a natural environment, keep quiet and avoid damaging plants, while noting that collecting mushrooms is permitted.

It is advisable not only to watch where you step in the forest, but also to look up.

· Christoph von Eisenhart RotheHe advised visitors how to avoid falling branches and other hazards.

The immediate warning concerns fire. “We are not really out of the forest-fire season yet,” von Eisenhart Rothe said. Two or three weeks without rain could quickly bring the danger back. “Do not make fires, do not smoke, just as you would not do so in someone else’s home.” He said climate change was placing severe pressure on forests and that beech and oak would no longer play the leading role they once did. Species such as sweet chestnut and service tree are expected to become more important because they cope better with hotter, drier conditions.

Do not make fires, do not smoke, just as you would not do so in someone else’s home.

· Christoph von Eisenhart RotheHe urged visitors to help prevent renewed forest fires.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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