Forestry in Germany

5. Actual trends in German forestry as increasing the proportion of hardwoods, mixed and uneven aged stands due to ecological and economical reasons

	The reforestations in Germany during the last two centuries often resulted in pure and even aged stands of spruce or pine.  This monocultures often suffered from storm or snow damage, sometimes followed by bark beetle attacks. Since 1980 in addition trees lost their vitality or even died in some regions due to the emissions from power stations and cars. Example: Long-term monitoring of forest ecosytems in the Berlin area
As a result of these bad experiences and due to the fact, that forests became more and more important for recreation, water delivery and nature conservancy, today forests in Germany are becoming more mixed and unevenly aged.
	Typically in Germany all forests are assigned to timber production, even those within the urban fringes intensively used for recreation.  Example (left): "Eilenriede" in Hannover