submitted by the Delegation of Germany

In December 1999 severe windstorms with speed up to about 200 km/h caused considerable material damage and personal injury in vast areas of Europe. France suffered the most forest damage (120 million m³), and is followed by Germany (30 million m³), Switzerland (13 million m³), Sweden (5 million m³) and Denmark (3.5 million m³).

In Germany the storm damage is concentrated in the Southwest (Baden-Württemberg 25 million m³ and Bavaria 4.5 million m³). This means in Baden-Württemberg three times annual cut. In total some two thirds of the normal annual removal in Germany were thrown. Even normally stable hardwood and softwood species in mixed stands did not resist. The damage does not only concern the forest ecosystem, but also threatens the existence of many forest holdings.

(as of 15 March 2000)

Due to the considerable percentage of broken trees and of the short time that especially beech can be stored not all the wind thrown timber will reach the market. In view of the enormous damage of some 175 million m³ in Europe we nevertheless expect significant market pressure.

Fortunately the market has up to now been able to absorb first offers of storm timber. The price level was lowered by a total of some 25 % (soft roundwood). So far the market for valuable beech logs remained stable. There is a primarily positive assessment of the business cycle preconditions for timber sales (hopes are particularly pinned on log house construction mainly in one-family-buildings).

In the case of Germany we can assume that some 70 % of the windthrow is marketable (approx. 20 million m³). The clearing of storm areas in the forests is most important to preserve timber quality and to avoid disease (e.g. bark beetle damage). In view of the Logging Restriction Ordinance that has come into force in February this year and belongs to all federal laender, it is also important to supply wood- and paper industry with timber from storm areas. So work is progressing quickly (in Baden-Württemberg more than 2 million m³/month).

Due to this high velocity of clearing work currently there are bottlenecks which are mainly caused by insufficient transport capacities. Therefore we try to ease the situation by

• staggering working capacities on storm areas (valuable beech logs at first, wind thrown mixed stands later),
• practising "live conservation" (leave thrown timber with sufficient root contact) and by
• medium and long term conservation (dry/wet storage in Baden-Württemberg planned up to 5 million m³).

In order to support forest owners in this difficult situation and to stabilise the timber market the Federal Government and the federal laender have taken a package of urgent measures.

On the basis of the Forest Damage Compensation Act an Ordinance on the restriction of regular logging entered into force on 12 February 2000 (duration: 01 October 1999 to 30 September 2000). In Baden-Württemberg the regular harvest for spruce and beech is restricted to 60 % of the average logging of the last 4 years before windthrow (1995 to 1998). In almost all other federal laender logging is restricted to 75 %. This means a reduction from about 40 to 30 million m³ (softwood: 23.5, hardwood: 6.5 million m³).

So the ordinance sets important framework conditions for the stabilisation of the timber market and also puts into force a series of tax reductions. During logging restriction, for instance, the following provisions apply:

• In case of the use of wind thrown timber only 25 % of the respective average income tax rate;
• The deductability of a flat-rate 90 % of forest income as operative expenditure (for forest holdings which are not obliged to have their own accounting);
• Within wood industry above-average supplies of timber and timber products shall only show in the balance sheet with 50 % of the value.

In addition, tax offices can relieve concerned holdings with tax deferment, special depreciation and reduced prepayment.

In the framework of a special loan programme for agricultural and forestry holdings, loans with a reduced interest rate (about 1.0 % below market level) have been made available since the beginning of January 2000 (volume of credit up to € 250,000 e.g. for investment in reforestation or purchase of tree harvesters).

Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are also offering reduced-interest loans (4.5 % resp. 3 % below market level) in order to support forest owners.

In the federal German system the federal laender are principally responsible for providing help in the case of natural disasters. Therefore Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria earmarked funds to the tune of nearly 60 million € for

• timber processing in order to clear up damaged areas (no volume-based subsidies),
• clearing of damaged areas with timber which is not marketable,

• timber transports to the storage site (no other financial transport aids are granted),
• reconstruction of forestry roads,
• reforestation of damaged areas including the renewal of site-adjusted stands.

Additional funds earmarked by the Federal Government to the tune of some 15 million € are intended to provide additional support for these measures.

The measures described above shall become part of the national CAC-task whose promotion principles are designed in a way to allow co-financing by the EU (according to article 30 of the EAGGF regulation „Reconstruction of a forestry production potential damaged by natural disasters"). We already got in touch with the EU Commission which declared its willingness to help on 24 January 2000 in the Agriculture Council. The measures has just been notified in Brussels.

In order to facilitate the removal of wind thrown timber the following special authorisations, which are limited in time, provide governmental support (mainly in responsibility of federal laender):

• The increase of the permitted total weight for heavy duty vehicles from 40 t up to 46 t or

There is an urgent need for a cargo space volume of about 20 million m³. German Rail and waterway transport enterprises are making efforts to provide additional cargo space for wind thrown timber (currently each of them up to 100.000 m³ per year). The main burden, however, is by far borne by road transport. The disposable transportation volume seems to be exhausted. So intensive efforts are made to mobilise additional cargo space on an international level, too.

Experienced teams, also from neighbouring federal laender (e.g. Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate) as well as some 200 harvesters are operating in the areas damaged by the storm. The technology used mainly in case of hillside clearing areas (e.g. cable-crane) is playing an important role. Currently there is no additional need for workers and machinery.

A guide on how to tackle the manifold problems was drafted on the basis of the experience of the storm disaster that happened in early 1990, on which we could now draw back. It was also made available to the French and Danish forestry colleagues.

It should be possible to mitigate the economic consequences of the storm damages through improved timber sales. The Wood Sales Fund of the German forestry and wood industry is to contribute to this aim with focused marketing and consumer information, e.g. on the ecological qualities of timber products.

An increased energetic timber use could also open up opportunities because of the relatively high percentage of broken trees that are not suitable for higher value purposes. The Federal Government promotes renewable energies with a Market Incentive Programme, and it is projected that an annual amount of about € 35 million will be earmarked for biomass until the year 2003. There is an additional improvement of framework conditions also for producing electricity from biomass thanks to the Renewable Energies Act, which will enter into force in the near future.

In the Agriculture Council of 24 January 2000 the EU Commissioners and the Member states expressed their solidarity with the countries concerned. Bilateral talks on possibilities for the European Union to provide help have started some days later in Brussels.

Direct contacts between the forestry authorities of Germany, France and Switzerland (three-country talks) have proven to be useful. At Federal level there was a conversation with French forestry representatives in Bonn in January 2000, which mainly concentrated on German experiences from the 1999 storm disaster. There also is an exchange of information through German embassies. It could be helpful if the countries which are most affected by the storm followed a common approach in order to keep market disruptions at the lowest possible level. The meeting in Geneva of 24 March, iniated by the ECE Timber Committee, contributed to this target.