Forest maintenance and timber harvesting in the municipal forest begin in October

All interested citizens are cordially invited to a guided tour of the forest on Thursday, 22 September at 4 pm. The meeting point is the forest car park at Heideschänke, Eubaer Str. 103. The occasion is the presentation of the forest maintenance work scheduled to be carried out by the Parks Department in the municipal forests of the City of Chemnitz from the beginning of October.

During the forest inspection, Andreas Streich, Head of the Parks Maintenance/Forestry Department, and Jörg Weisbrich, District Forester, will provide information on the current forest maintenance work in autumn and winter 2016/2017 and the effects of forest maintenance on the development of the forest in the coming years.

Representatives of the media are cordially invited to attend the event.

The forest maintenance work will take place in Zeisigwald, Alte Harth and Rödelwald and should be completed by the end of February 2016. Traffic safety work will also be carried out in other forest areas of the city.

Background:
The basis for the scheduled forest maintenance work in the municipal forests of the city of Chemnitz is the city council resolution on the 10-year forest management plan for the years 2015 to 2024. In addition to their protective and recreational function, many municipal forests also have a utility function for people, and only in designated protected areas is there
no commercial timber extraction takes place: For example, in the three FSC reference areas, the areas of the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive (so-called FFH areas) and in several wooded area natural monuments. Based on one year and one hectare of forest area (= 10,000 m²), the forests of the city of Chemnitz produce approx. 10 m³ of wood. Of this, approx. 6 m³ is utilised commercially and 4 m³ is used to further increase the living wood stock in the city's own forests. Around 20% of the trees are removed from the stands during scheduled thinning. These are mainly ailing trees, trees with wood defects (curvature, twisted growth, overhang, frost mould etc.) or tree species not suited to the location. Depending on the quality of the wood, it is used to produce stable boards and beams, fibreboard and chipboard, pulp and many other wood products. However, the aim of thinning work is also to increase the stability of the remaining tree population against environmental influences, to influence the composition of the tree species and to favourably influence the future wood growth of the remaining trees.

A total of approx. 4,900 m³ of raw wood is harvested in the winter months. The purchase of the raw timber by the wood processing industry is contractually bound. The mainly mechanically harvested raw wood is processed into various assortments and temporarily stored on forest roads accessible by lorry. This will inevitably cause damage to forest roads. After removal of the temporarily stored raw timber assortments, the roads will be repaired again; this also depends on the weather and experience shows that it will not be completed before July 2017.

Forest areas and forest paths closed during the work: Walkers, joggers, cyclists, dog owners and all other forest visitors should be aware that forest areas and forest paths are temporarily closed to passers-by for safety reasons during the logging and timber processing (based on the Saxon Forest Act, Section 11, Paragraph 3). After all, a tree 30 metres high, for example, has a danger radius of at least 30 metres.
Wooden poles must not be stepped on or climbed on! Logs could start to roll and serious accidents could happen. Please instruct your children and grandchildren in particular about this.

Firewood licences from the district forester: Citizens who would like to use the environmentally friendly fuel wood can now purchase firewood licences from the district forester again
Office hours are Mondays from 4 to 6 p.m. in the office building at Annaberger Straße 89, room 63. The firewood licence, which is valid for one week and must be carried when collecting, is issued for a minimum quantity of 3 cubic metres. One cubic metre costs 17 euros. Firewood licences for the remaining wood on the area are only sold when the raw wood ready for sale has been stacked on the forest path.

A chainsaw licence is required to process the wood with a chainsaw in the forest. If you would like to buy two metres of ready-to-cut firewood (minimum quantity 5 cubic metres), please call 0371/488-6752 or send an e-mail to gruenflaechenamt@stadt-chemnitz.de. Home delivery is also possible for quantities of 10 cubic metres or more.

Contact for citizens: For further information and questions about current forestry work in the Chemnitz municipal forests, please contact the Green Spaces Office by e-mail at gruenflaechenamt(at)stadt-chemnitz.de or call 0371/488-6755.