Climbing forests in Dresden and surrounding area suffer from drought and bark beetle

Climbing parks in Saxon forests are struggling with heavy bark beetle infestations after several years of drought. Mainly affected are forests with many spruce trees. Climbing parks located in forests with many deciduous trees, on the other hand, have hardly any problems. That resulted in a survey of the German press agency with different operators.

The climbing forest Dresdner heath must close because of bark beetle infestation even. The pests have affected the facility too much, climbing is no longer safe, he said. "We also simply have no more trees," said the owner of the park. Last year, the Dresdner Heide climbing forest had already had problems with the pest and had to shorten its tree population considerably.

The Kriebstein climbing forest in the district of Central Saxony is in a similar situation. The climbing routes will "remain closed this year," as Alexander Persigehl, owner and operator of the park, announced. The bark beetle is to blame. Whether the park will reopen is currently up in the air, he said. "The park would have to be completely rebuilt, there is the question of whether that is worthwhile at all," Persigehl said.

According to Renke Coordes, spokesman for the state enterprise Saxony Forest, the heavy infestation by the bark beetle is, among other things, a consequence of the storm damage and droughts of recent years. "We have five severe years of forest damage behind us in Saxony," Coordes explained. As a result, he said, the trees have been weakened and can no longer defend themselves against pests.

In addition, he said, Saxony's forest consists largely of spruce trees, which originally come from higher altitudes and are not actually native to the warmer weather. These are perfect conditions for the bark beetle. It can reproduce more quickly in warmer temperatures. The Buchdrucker, the bark beetle species most widespread in the Saxon forest, attacks almost exclusively spruce trees.

The Pöhl climbing forest in the Vogtland district moved to the adjacent deciduous forest in the fall of 2022 for this reason. In the summer of 2022, according to managing director and owner Jörg Böhm, the park had also struggled with infestation by the bark beetle and therefore had to be closed in the meantime for safety reasons. No problems have, among others, the forest rope park Dresden-Bühlau and the adventure climbing forest Greifensteine.