Soil protection and forest health

How is the forest doing in Germany? The Forest Condition Survey (WZE; Level I monitoring) investigates this question. The nationwide survey takes annually place on an area-representative sample grid in order to assess the vitality condition of forest trees.

The National Forest Soil Inventory characterizes the condition of forest soils, identifies changes in the soil condition since the first inventory and answers current research questions, e.g. regarding the carbon inventory.

How much carbon do organic soils store? How much does the forest stand store compared to that? What thickness do the peat layers of drained peatlands still have? How do the emissions of organic soils develop? Peatland soil monitoring clarifies these questions and derives measures for climate protection.