Climate change threatens Germany's fairy tale forests

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/05/ [login to see] /climate-change-threatens-germanys-fairy-tale-forests
Andre Salamon wends his way through coniferous woodlands on a hillside in Germany's central Harz region.

Salamon is a forester, out looking for damage. He doesn't have to search for long and points to tiny holes in the bark of a spruce – the work of a beetle that has infested this entire region.

"It's now normal to find dying or dead trees on a daily basis," he says, adding that it's a worrying phenomenon not limited to these forests. The dense, green woodlands of Germany that gave rise to the Grimms' fairy tales are turning gray and dying. Forests still cover a third of the country, but according to the latest federal government survey, 79% of all trees nationwide are sick, dying or dead.

Salamon shrugs. He says that with most trees weakened by five years of drought, the bark beetles are only finishing off the job. But it hurts all the same. "I won't deny that I'm sad to see a tree die a hundred years too soon," he says.