In the Bavarian Forest National Park, transport helicopters are to help combat bark beetle infestation. As the national park administration reported on Monday, a specialist company from Switzerland is expected to take around 3,000 cubic meters of wood from the park by helicopter from Tuesday.
The work is taking place in the Lindberg area (Regen district) in a moor area. The helicopters would have to be used to get the tree trunks out of the forest on the sensitive moor soil, the administration justified the use. Other machines would damage the bog there. Except for Sunday, the helicopters are expected to fly until the middle of next week. For safety reasons, some hiking and cycling trails have to be closed temporarily.
According to the national park, there are significantly more infested trees this year than in 2022. Combating bark beetles in Germany’s oldest national park has been controversial for decades, because the motto “let nature be nature” normally applies in the park. In order to prevent the beetles from spreading to adjacent private commercial forests, the beetle population is still being fought on the outskirts of the national park by removing infested trees. In the core area of the park – which covers about three quarters of the total area – no human intervention is allowed.
Environmentalists point out that when bark beetles infest diseased trees, it contributes to the development of a natural jungle. In their opinion, the resulting deadwood should remain in the forest because it becomes a habitat for many animal and plant species. “The bark beetle naturally prepares the way for a new, diverse and stable forest that has been adapted to the changed conditions,” emphasizes the Bund Naturschutz in Bayern.