The dispute over bark beetle control in the Bavarian Forest National Park is officially over. But Forestry Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU) and the head of the State Association for Bird and Nature Conservation (LBV), Norbert Schäffer, are following suit. Kaniber confirmed in an interview that the pest had spread from the national park to neighboring forests. She and the forestry administration have always called for the area in which the bark beetle is combated to be enlarged. If this had happened, the pest would not have been able to spread so quickly. For Schäffer, this is “technically incomprehensible”. Bark beetle management in the national park is passe.
Schäffer refers to a 2015 study by the State Institute for Forestry and Forestry (LWF), which is assigned to Kaniber. It shows “that forests near the national park are better protected than other forests through consistent bark beetle control in the buffer zone “. In fact, the LWF certifies that the national park’s bark beetle management is working. There is no evidence that the pest attacks neighboring forests from the protected area in large numbers. However, the study years 2010 to 2014 were not years with a mass proliferation of the pest, as has been increasing since then. For such years, the LWF recommends adapting the control zone flexibly so that the damage beyond the national park remains as small as possible. Kaniber has made the demand several times. She appears unimpressed by Schäffer’s criticism. “Anyone who only cites half the report is only spreading half the truth,” she says.
The dispute over the bark beetle recently became more heated when the national park offered to remove 18 hectares from the natural zone in order to combat the pest there. Conservationists spoke of a breach of taboo. In the natural zone, nature has free rein; one should not reduce it as one sees fit. Now the 18 hectares are being replaced elsewhere.