{"id":493,"date":"2025-09-08T13:46:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migration.beingalive.earth\/?page_id=493"},"modified":"2025-09-10T11:17:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T11:17:04","slug":"bring-me-back-my-forest","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/?page_id=493","title":{"rendered":"Bring me back my forest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Richard Wagner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since 2018, large parts of Central European forests have had to be felled due to bark beetle infestation on a previously unknown scale. In some regions of Germany, over 80 percent of the forests are affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The infested species are mainly spruce trees. The bark beetles are bark-breeding insects, i.e. their larvae develop in the bark. This destroys the bast layer and interrupts the transport of nutrients, eventually leading to the death of the tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What remains when the forestry machines have finished their work: individual trees that are barely able to survive the next storm without the protection of the surrounding forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The soil is now unprotected from the sun and weather, and instead of new trees, mainly bushes and fast growing small plants are taking root.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not only that the landscapes are completely different now, but also what you can see and hear in the forest, or better in what is left of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The full extent of this catastrophe can only be seen from above: Where have been forests, full of insects, birds and other animals, are now empty fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cause of this progressive destruction are large spruce monocultures, which were intended to guarantee rapid growth and fast profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is problematic because monocultures have been shown to be less resistant to environmental stressors, such as heat and parasites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bizarre landscapes with different plants have formed once the trees were gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many more trees are infested by the bark beetle and will have to be felled in the next months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What has been destroyed is not just the forest itself, but the integrity of the ecosystem I grew up in – something that is irreplaceable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Post scriptum<\/em>: It remains very questionable if this ecosystem, a forest around my hometown, was an ‘intact’ forest in a first place. However, this photo essay was intended to document the actual state of the environment I know since my childhood and the emotions I connect to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I am well aware of the fact that it was a (dysfunctional) monoculture in large parts, nevertheless, this does not change my emotions and memories. That’s also why I choose the rather provocative title \u201ebring me back my forest\u201c – which is obviously not<\/em> a desirable state to go back to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Richard Wagner Since 2018, large parts of Central European forests have had to be felled due to bark beetle infestation on a previously unknown scale. In some regions of Germany, over 80 percent of the forests are affected. The infested species are mainly spruce trees. The bark beetles are bark-breeding insects, i.e. their larvae develop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-493","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":746,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/493\/revisions\/746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}