Forest maintenance work in the municipal forests
Wood utilisation work begins at the end of September - Citizens invited to forest inspection - Date: Thursday, 2 October, 4 p.m., Glösa Forest - Firewood licences can be purchased from the district forester again from the end of November
Citizens are cordially invited to a guided tour of the forest on Thursday, 2 October at 4 pm. This year's on-site event will take place in the Glösaer Wald forest - the meeting point is at the Lichtenauer Weg/Rennsteig junction (opposite Heim gGmbH). 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 end of September. Andreas Streich, head of the municipal forestry department, and Jörg Weisbrich, district forester, will provide information on the current forest maintenance work in autumn and winter 2014/2015 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 should be completed by the end of February 2015 at the latest. The work will take place in the following forest areas: Zeisigwald, Glösaer Wald, Sechsruthen, Crimmitschauer Wald, Kemtauer Wald, Alte Harth, peripheral areas of Rabensteiner Wald. Traffic safety work will also be carried out in other forest areas of the town.
The exact location of the forest work sites is published online at www.chemnitz.de/wald.
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 ten-year forest management plan for the years 2005 to 2014. 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: 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. 9.5 m³ of wood. In accordance with a city council resolution, 5.5 m³ of this 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: In particular, these are ailing trees or trees with wood defects (bending, twisted growth, overhanging, frost moulding, etc.). 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 trees 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. 4,500 m³ of raw wood is harvested in the winter months. The purchase of the raw wood by the wood processing industry is contractually bound. The mechanically harvested raw wood is processed into various assortments and temporarily stored on forest roads accessible by lorry. This will inevitably also affect forest roads. After removal of the temporarily stored raw wood assortments, the paths will be repaired again; this also depends on the weather and experience shows that it will not be completed before July 2015.
Forest areas and forest paths closed during the work: Walkers must bear in mind that forest areas and forest paths are temporarily closed to passers-by for safety reasons for the duration of the felling and/or 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.
Firewood licences from the district forester: Citizens who would like to use the environmentally friendly fuel wood will once again have the opportunity to purchase firewood licences from the district forester from around the end of November this year - office hours are Mondays from 4 to 6 pm 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 per person for a maximum of five cubic metres; one cubic metre costs 17 euros.
Firewood licences for the remaining wood on the site are only sold once 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 and have it delivered, please call 0371/488-6752 or email gruenflaechenamt(at)stadt-chemnitz.de.
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.