The Ore Mountains: Will successive recovery of forests from lethal disease be successful?

Abstract

The Ore Mountains (the Krušné Hory Mountains) are located in Central Europe on the border between the Czech Republic and Saxony, Germany. They are known as an area where air pollution has had a very severe impact. Sulphur dioxide, produced mainly by coal power plants and the chemical industry, caused extensive decay of forests in the upper part of the Ore Mountains during the 1970s and 1980s. Dying trees were felled on more than 40,000 ha. Stands of mainly substitute tree species, considered to be more resistant to air pollution, were established on these locations. With the desulphurization of the main pollution sources and the decrease in industrial production, pollution significantly diminished during the 1990s. Nevertheless, even in the second half of the 1990s, distinctive damage to substitute forests was observed. A survey of their condition detected about 1600 ha of white birch stands in decline, 53 ha of blue spruce stands affected by needle yellowing, and prevalent damage of mountain ash by red deer. Our comprehensive studies closely observed the situation in the Ore Mountains and focused on practical questions and solutions to current forestry problems. We proposed appropriate measures relating to changes of tree species composition, forest plantation, silvicultural principles, and amelioration of forest soils, taking into account the current level of pollution, the condition of forest soils, and the vitality of forests. Several options, including a rough economic evaluation, are presented here.