The Grafenwoehr Federal Forest and Military Trainig Area ...

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.

2 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 . 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.

3 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. 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.

4 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. Sigurd Lehmann-Tolkmit t, Head of Delegation, on behalf of the German C I C Delegation,and by Dr.

5 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.

6 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. 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.

7 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. 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.

8 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.

9 T he Federal fores t enterprise is responsible for t aking care of the area. 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.

10 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. 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.