© BLM, Holzkurier
Last year, softwood accounted for 91% or 31.4 million m³ of the damaged wood, and hardwood for the remaining 9% or 3.2 million m³. A total of 34.6 million m³ of damaged wood accumulated, which corresponds to an 11% decrease compared to the previous year (38.7 million m³).
The biggest volume of damaged wood, i.e. 9.8 million m³, was recorded in Bavaria. Thuringia (6.8 million m³) and Baden-Württemberg (5.4 million m³) follow in second and third place, respectively. In Baden-Württemberg, hardwood (852,000 m³) accounted for the majority of the damaged wood, while Bavaria recorded the biggest volume of damaged softwood, that is 9.2 million m³. In Hesse, around one quarter of damaged wood was hardwood (510,000 m³ of a total of 2.2 million m³).
In a first estimate, the federal states project 26.97 million m³ of damaged wood for the year 2024, which would correspond to a decrease of 22%. The total volume is expected to consist of 24 million m³ of softwood and 2.9 million m³ of hardwood. Thuringia expects the biggest volume of damaged wood, i.e. 6.8 million m³, and is followed by Bavaria with a projected volume of 6.7 million m³.
In the years from 2018 to 2023, a total of 285.6 million m³ of damaged wood accumulated in Germany (92% or 262 million m³ of damaged wood).
In 2024, an estimated 59,233 hectares of clearings need to be reforested, with the state if Thuringia alone needing reforestation measures on 30,000 hectares, as stated in the forest damage report.
