Forest in Hofheim

It is called the "mother of the forest" because it can grow almost anywhere and creates good growing conditions for many other tree species. It is a characteristic tree species of the Hofheim city forest. It forms stands in almost all forest communities and is the most competitive tree species.

Old, large-crowned oaks characterize the urban forest. They are less demanding of the soil, but require light and are slow-growing. In coppicing, a type of historical "agro-forestry", weak wood was used as firewood, while the old oaks were left to fatten the pigs in the forest with their nutritious fruit (acorns, "Eckerich") (forest pasture). The "remnants" of this form of farming can be seen in our old oaks. More recently, oak has been increasingly reforested, as it is valued as valuable furniture wood and is also robust and less susceptible to storms and drought.

Spruce is the best known coniferous tree species and was not part of the original natural forest community of the urban forest. Spruce now only makes up around 3% of the urban forest. After the completion of the large-scale afforestations in the middle and end of the 19th century, it was around 20%. It is an undemanding and fast-growing tree species. It was therefore particularly suitable for the reforestation of devastated forest areas after the great timber shortage in the 18th century. The spruce was intended to ensure the supply of wood for the national economy.
However, it is only partially adapted to our locations. Increasing global warming combined with persistent summer drought have taken their toll. Storms and bark beetles did the rest.

Thanks to its frugality in terms of water, soil and climate, the resin-rich Scots pine is still an important tree species in the urban forest and can be found in almost all districts. It grows predominantly as a stand-forming tree on dry sites or in rocky locations. In the past, it was often used to reforest wasteland. However, its share is decreasing as it is not competitive enough, especially against beech.

Douglas fir has been the focus of forestry cultivation trials in Europe for almost 200 years. In addition to its long history of cultivation and its important role for the timber industry in Germany, the tree species is considered a potentially invasive species and is subject to criticism. However, forestry scientists regard Douglas fir as the most important introduced tree species and, compared to spruce, it is more drought-resistant and less susceptible to damage from bark beetles. In addition to the favorable forecasts with regard to emerging climate change, the tree species is important for forestry due to the many years of research-based findings. With regard to its invasiveness and suitability for cultivation, however, Douglas fir will still be the subject of much debate and will have to prove in the future that its cultivation - also as a replacement for spruce - is justified.

Since the early Middle Ages, wood has become the central raw material in almost all areas of human life. This also had an increasingly intensive impact on forest development. Emerging industries such as mining, the operation of smelting furnaces, charcoal works, glassworks and other forestry trades, as well as the firewood requirements of households, consumed huge quantities of wood.

The size and appearance of the urban forest are still influenced by this today. For a long time, the unimaginable devastation was so severe that the forest looked more like a parkland or pasture than a forest as we know it today.

At the end of the 18th century, when it became increasingly difficult for the people of Hofheim to obtain wood from their own forest, sustainability was born: from then on, only as much wood could be used as would grow back. Did you know that the "sustainable development" that has been widely propagated since the 1992 Rio de Janeiro environmental conference can ultimately be traced back to the forestry industry of the time?