German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) receives a large chess piece from Michael Prinz zu Salm-Salm (L)  

AGDW-president, Prinz Michael zu Salm-Salm, explains that forest businesses are much more than the guardians of biodiversity.

 “Forest owners are pleased with the current increased demand for wood from German forests. The required wood can be supplied without infringing legally pre-scribed sustainability goals or endangering the high biodiversity of the forests. However, this also poses a logistic challenge, which can only be met with modern forest technologies”, said Michael Prinz zu Salm, president of the German forest owners association, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Waldbesitzerverbände, at the press conference organised by the Kuratorium für Waldarbeit und Forsttechnik (KWF) on Friday, May 23, 2008 in Bonn.
Salm pointed out that the German forest industry is well aware of its responsibilities towards promoting the use of wood as a CO2-binding raw material and fuel source in the attempt to combat climate change but also in relation to its commitment to a careful use of the sensitive for-est ecosystem. The manpower available for forest work is limited: on the one hand, occupational health and safety aspects preclude an increase in manual work. On the other hand a diminishing number of forest owners are adequately schooled and trained in forestry.
The AGDW-president anticipates a upsurge in the use of machines in the private forest: “We will have to increase the proportion of work carried out by machines if we want to mobilize more wood in the small and very small private forests. This can only be achieved if contractors have access to reliable technology and well-trained personnel. These are the basic prerequisites for high quality forest work with minimum stand damage, which will help to convince forest owners to increase wood harvest.“ Salm thanked KWF president Peter Wenzel, for the work carried out at the institute which mostly consists of technical and safety assessments and machine tests. This encourages competition and further technological develop-ments. In the future, this will increasingly be a prerequisite for economically suc-cessful and sustainable forestry.
 “Every year, 80 million m3 wood on 11 million ha of forest in Germany are har-vested using modern forest technology. Already more than half this volume is har-vested using full mechanised procedures. Most forests grow on specially protected sites such as water protection zones or nature or landscape conservation areas. Many forests are even subject to multiple protection. Organising wood harvesting operations in these forests is a special challenge for forest owners and the people working in the forest. It also makes great demands on the used technology!“, said Peter Wenzel, president of the Kuratorium für Waldarbeit und Forsttechnik e.V. (KWF) on Friday in Bonn.
  Prinz Salm states that most forests in Germany are either owned by communities or are privately owned. This is why forest biodiversity conservation can only suc-ceed in close cooperation with forest owners. The president of the forest owners concluded: “Conservation and use are not contradictory, they are two sides of the same medal“.
 The Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutscher Waldbesitzerverbände represents the interests of the 2 million German private and communal forest owners. The main office is located in Berlin, Claire-Waldoff-Straße 7,D-10117 Berlin, Tel.:   030/31807923     For further information contact the managing director, Ms Sabine Bresemann.