The Grafenwoehr Federal Forest and Military …

1 A Candidate for the Edmond Blanc Prize of CICJ anuar y 2010 WHERE HUNTING SERVES BIODIVERSIT YThe Grafenwoehr Federal Forestand Militar y Trainig Area in Bavaria, GermanyF o t o : M . M e i n e r E xecutive Summar yT he Federal F ores tr y Enterprise at Grafenwoehr celebrates it s 10 0 th anniver sar y in 2010, the Inter-national Year of Biodiver sit y . T he enterprise is re-sponsible for the management of natural resources land, fores t s and wildlife in the Grafenwoehr milit ar y base, an area of 23,0 0 0 hec t ares, which is used intensively for training by the U S army. T he dif ferent objec tives of safeguarding the milit ar y use, sus t ainable fores tr y, biodiver sit y and wildlife conser vation have to be at t ained simult aneously. T hese complex objec tives have been achieved with remarkable success, as shown by audit s, evalua-tions and ongoing scientific research on red deer.

2 In the las t t wo decades the area has regenerated an out s t anding indigenous fauna and flora with many species, which have become ex tinc t or endangered in other par t s of Germany. Hunting is prac tised to manage, conser ve and use wildlife on a sus t ainable basis, to promote biodi-ver sit y and at the same time to contribute to the revenues of the whole enterprise. Ever y year around 1,5 0 0 red deer are har ves ted. Hunting, in par ticular of red deer, is organized in a way that dis turbance is minimized, a natural age and sex s truc ture of game is achieved and the spatial dis tribution is improved. A s a consequence red deer are diurnally ac tive and gra ze the open grasslands. Damage to trees in the fores t has been reduced greatly and is at a negligible level, even though the red deer now occur at ver y high densities. At the same time the deer helps to keep the grass s teppe open, which is an ecological and milit ar y objec tive.

3 In this way the deer ser ve as landscape architec t s . T he red deer number s seem to have reached an optimum although rather vigorous hunting is needed to keep the population at that level. T he enterprise s s t af f s do not see a contradic-tion bet ween professional and scientifically based hunting s trategies and traditional German hunting culture. During hunting therefore the t ypical German traditions are maint ained. Perhaps more impor t ant, the experience of the Fe-deral F ores t Enterprise at Grafenwoehr has proven that hunting can be an impor t ant ins trument of biodiver sit y conser vation and that professional and nature-friendly hunting s trategies allow high den-sities of larger hoofed animals aiding conser vation and biodiver sit y objec hope the C I C Edmond Blanc Prize could honour this achievement in the International Year of Biodi-ver sit y. Endor sed by Dr.

4 Sigurd Lehmann-Tolkmit t, Head of Delegation, on behalf of the German C I C Delegation,and by Dr. Rolf D. B aldus, President C I C Tropical G ame C ommission. F o t o : J . G e b h a r d tTable of Content s1. Main Description ( English )2. German tex t of Description3. A nnex : Research Summar y ( in German )4. A nnex : A r ticle on Grafenwoehr from Z E I T weekly newspaper ( in German )5. A nnex : DV D with a T V movie on Grafenwoehr ( B avarian T V ) . F or private and per sonal use only !N umerous and healthy deer in Deer H eaven F o t o : M . M e i n e rIm p r in tTex t : U lr ich M aushakeTr ansla t ion : L ena B aldusP ho t o s : J. G ebhard t ; B . K amphuis ; H . K lavinius ; M . M ei nerM aps : M ike S handD esign and P r o duc t ion : S T O L Z | G es t al t ung D r uck VeredelungS p ons or s : C I C G erman D elega t ion ; S T O L Z | G es t al t ung D r uck VeredelungC oncept and Edi t ing : D r.

5 R ol f D. B aldusF o t o : B . K a m p h u i s F o t o : M . M e i n e r of the exercises, such as noise, dus t, erosion and fires. A s a whole, the fores t ser ves as a so - cal-led protec tive-fores t , it protec t s soils, flora and fauna. Never theless, at the same time it mus t produce an optimal economic result for the central G overnment s a sus t ainable ecological balance bet ween the use and protec tion of nature is the daily job and t ask of the Federal fores ter s and this, together with the s tric t protec tion of the area as a milit a-r y exclusion zone, has resulted in it s out s t anding impor t ance for nature protec tion. T he Federal fores t enterprise of Grafenwoehr presently has a s t af f of 17 s t ate fores ter s and in addition 4 6 other employees in the of fice and in the fores t. Heav y machiner y is available at 3 technical ser vice point s. Additionally, to a large ex tent works in the area are carried out by ex ternal Task and OrganizationT he Federal fores t enterprise at Grafenwoehr is one of 17 fores t enterprises of the Federal G overn-ment in Germany.

6 T he s t atutor y t ask of the Federal fores t s is to suppor t the proper ties of the Federal Republic of Germany, in terms of fores tr y cultivation and the conser vation of nature, including hunting. T he Federal fores t enterprise of Grafenwoehr ex-tends to about 0 0 hec t ares, of which the core es t ate is the milit ar y training base consis ting of about 0 0 hec t ares. I t is used as a milit ar y exer-cise area by the armed forces of the United S t ates of A merica, and is charac terized by harbouring ex-ceptionally intense manoeuvres. E ssentially it ser-ves the U S army as a shooting base for all t ypes of weapons. Currently there are 49 dif ferent ranges in operation. Ever y day around 20 0 0 soldier s, carr ying heav y machiner y, prac tice on the land. A n overall prohibition of entr y prevails for the milit ar y training area, due to milit ar y safet y precautions. T he Federal fores t enterprise is responsible for t aking care of the area.

7 A ver y intensive and close cont ac t with the U S of fices and agencies responsible for milit ar y operations and the prac ticing unit s is required. T he core t ask of the Federal fores t enterprise of Grafen-woehr is the upkeep and management of the area in order to ensure that it can be used in the long-term and that it can adapt to cons t antly changing milit ar y uses. A pplying environment al conser vation measures to fores t s and open areas reduces harmful emissions G rafenwoehr is a Military exclusion zoneF o t o : M . M e i n e rGrafenw hr GERMANY100 kmBonnMunichHamburgBerlinThe site of G rafenwoehr on a map of G ermanyI n the gorse thicketF o t o : H . K l a v i n i u s Natur e Conser vation on t he Milit ar y Training Base GrafenwoehrT he ecological charac teris tics arise out of numerous fac tor s that are clearly dis tinc t from other areas in the non milit ar y xamples include : Ver y large-scale, undivided landscapes.

8 L ow degrees of development. N o intensive agricultural use. N o use of pes ticides or fer tilizer s. Specific milit ar y use creates early succession s t ages which have become ex tremely rare in the cultivated landscape. L it tle human impac t due to the sheltered environ-ment of milit ar y use. L arge impac t areas with high amount s of dead-wood. Permit ted natural succession. Milit ar y exercises are carried out in an environ-ment ally and nature friendly way. C onser vation management has exis ted on the site since the training ground was es t ablished. L ong las ting and good cooperation bet ween the Federal fores t enterprise, the F orces, the Environment al Protec tion Bureau and the respon-sible s t ate tor s. T he U S -armed forces themselves carr y out the maintenance of the milit ar y infras truc ture. Simult aneously, they inves t significant capit al into the conser vation and protec tion of the nature on the milit ar y base.

9 Hunting on the area falls under the fores t enterprise for legal reasons. T he spe-cial func tions of such a milit ar y training area, the environment al conditions and the legal obligation of cos t-ef fec tiveness give the hunting it s objec tives and determine the framework .His tor yIn the year 1910 the milit ar y training base of Gra-fenwoehr was founded for the I I I. B avarian A rmy C orps. In the same year the milit ar y fores tr y of fice, which is today the Federal fores t enterprise, was created. T herefore this year will see the 10 0 th anniver sar y. T he fundament al goal of integrating milit ar y use and nature conser vation has not chan-ged through all this time. At the end of the 19 3 0 s the size of the milit ar y training area was increased to what it is today, 0 0 hec t egal S t atusIn accordance with the N ATO S t atus of F orces Agreement the milit ar y training base at Grafen-woehr is solely available for the milit ar y use of the A merican armed forces.

10 T he interes t s of defence are prioritized. Never theless both Federal - and s t ate laws ( especially nature and fores t law ) apply, to which the A merican A rmed F orced have explicitly bound themselves. Since 20 0 3 the whole area has been designated as a European Fauna- Flora- Habit at and it is a protec ted bird area, par t of the Europe-an Natura 20 0 0 net work . T he goal is to preser ve out s t anding habit at s as well as animal- and plant species in order to protec t Europe s biodiver sit and Geographic Conditions In the Oberpf lzer Wald ( Upper Palatinate F ores t ) , the land has an elevation of 315 to 8 4 0 m above sea-level. T he prevailing geological formations of the milit ar y training area Grafenwoehr are Cret ace-ous, Triassic and Jurassic. Under the influence of continent al climate these have weathered into sand- and clay soils of medium s trength, over the cour se of from 19 32 For es t r y and t he Func tions of t he For es t T he fores t s in the Federal fores t enterprise at Grafenwoehr are as far as possible es t ablished and maint ained with natural succession and without even-aged plant ations ; in as near a natural s t ate as possible.