By Oliver Ohmann
Grunewald, Müggelberge, Tegel Forest. Have you ever wondered why Berlin is so forested?
The answer is: permanent forest contract. A unique future deal that the city negotiated in 1915. At that time, the municipal “Zweckverband Groß-Berlin” bought 10,000 hectares of forest from the Prussian state. Purchase price: 50 million gold marks (equivalent to around 250 million euros today).
108 years ago, the Grunewald, Tegel, Grünau, Köpenick and Potsdam forests were added to Berlin. The city undertook not to build on or resell the acquired forest areas.
Rather, the forest areas should be preserved PERMANENTLY for the citizens as local recreation areas. Large parts of the purchased forest are still in the surrounding area, such as the Parforceheide.
A walk in the Grunewald around 1910. The permanent forest contract was signed five years later Photo: ullstein bild
The deal approved by the emperor was the prerequisite for us being able to relax in the forest areas to this day. Without the 1915 treaty, the areas would most likely have been built on.
The permanent forest contract was one thing above all: Berlin’s life insurance against the real estate speculators of the imperial era.
Since 1850, more and more fields, fields and forests had been bought up around Berlin. Former villages such as Schöneberg, Steglitz, Hermsdorf, Pankow and Lichtenberg received their buildings. Even lakes were privatized and were no longer accessible (Hubertussee, Dianasee, Königssee).
Cycle race over the Havelchaussee. The Grunewald must be preserved as a recreational area Photo: ullstein bild
Around 1900 people feared for the Grunewald. There were protests against speculators, and 30,000 signatures against deforestation were collected. Forester Martin Klees warned at the time: “The Grunewald is doomed to perish.”
This is how the unique long-term deal finally came about, which protected the Grunewald and many other forests from the construction boom. The future vision of recovery has come true. The environmental association BUND describes the purchase of the forest in 1915 as “the first major success of the Berlin environmental movement”.
How are Berlin’s forests doing?
How is the Berlin Forest doing? Short answer according to the current forest condition report (2022): bad.
40 percent of the forest trees – mostly pines and oaks – show significant damage. The mortality rate is above average. Only four percent of the trees show no visible damage!
According to the report, our forests are threatened by the climate crisis. The summers are too hot and dry. The report says: “They can only adapt very slowly to the rapidly advancing global warming and the changing climatic conditions.”
The state of Berlin and its forest administration want to counteract this – through tree diversity. The focus is on the “consistent development of climate-stable mixed deciduous forests”. Since autumn 2021, more than half a million deciduous trees have been planted as part of the mixed forest program – mainly oak, beech, hornbeam, linden and maple.