Forest Wildlife Management in Germany

Abstract

No forester or wildlife manager traveling in Germany can fail to be stimulated by his experiences. German forests look quite different from most American forests. The game animals are of entirely different species and have different life histories and ecology. The management techniques, if not completely strange, are used in a different way and with different purposes. It is true that German forestry and German game management are not applicable to American game species, to our sociological or economic conditions, or to our traditions. Our culture and traditions are as different from those of Germany as is our population density and intensity of land use. In spite of the differences, much can be learned by a study of German conditions. For me, the benefits fell into two categories: first, foreign travel gave me a chance to my profession from a distance and see it in a perspective that is difficult when I am at home, faced with daily problems as well as long-range problems; second, travel in Germany gave me a chance to see land use in a country which has a human population density far greater than that of the United States. Study of land use with such demands on the natural resources is, for an American, a into the future, since demographers predict that soon we shall have such demands. It is the glimpse of the future which I hope will emerge in the account given here. My stay in Germany was too short for me to feel that I thoroughly understood conditions, or to see all parts of the country. The period from October through December 1957 was spent in West Germany. I used a car, so it was possible to travel freely even in rather remote sections. Most of the time was spent in the Solling and Harz regions of Lower Saxony; the Westerwald, Eifel, Hunsriick, and Pfalzerwald regions of Rheinland-Pfalz; the Schwarzwald of Baden-Wiirttemburg; and forest districts in the vicinity of Munich and Berchtesgaden in Bavaria.