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Climate change remains a challenge for Darmstadt's forests
On February 25th, the Darmstadt city council took note of the 2025 forest condition report for the Darmstadt municipal forest. Following the extreme drought years from 2018 to 2022, a slight recovery is evident. The current report, as well as the reports from previous years, are available online.
Michael Kolmer, head of the city's parks department, sees this as confirmation of the chosen course: the guiding principle of the forest is correct and must be consistently pursued. The city forest is showing resilience, but continues to suffer from the effects of climate change.
Crown thinning has decreased
As the report shows, the average crown transparency of all trees decreased by 3.6 percentage points to 35.6 percent – the lowest value since the surveys began in 2020. Beeches, oaks and other deciduous trees such as sycamore maples particularly benefited from the more favorable weather conditions of the past two years.
The pine trees, however, remain severely damaged, particularly in the western part of the forest. Overall, the mortality rate of 0.8 percent is still above the Hessian state average of 0.3 percent.
Westwald is particularly affected
The western forest is characterized by sandy, nutrient-poor soils and unfavorable climatic conditions. High mortality rates and severe crown damage continue to be recorded there. Nevertheless, a downward trend in mortality is also evident here.
The annual forest condition survey provides standardized data on crown condition, mortality, regeneration, and damage patterns. This data serves as a basis for climate-resilient silvicultural concepts and for monitoring the success of measures already implemented, such as reducing browsing damage or promoting deadwood and water retention areas.
In cooperation with the Technical University of Darmstadt, the ecological relationships are being further investigated scientifically. Studies show that drought-tolerant species are spreading more widely in the western forest, while the eastern forest exhibits a greater diversity of tree species.
Since 2020, the condition of Darmstadt's city forest has been systematically recorded annually. The 2025 survey was conducted in July and August based on a closely spaced sampling design.
(DARMSTADT – RED/PSD/dk)
