wild, wood, winter
foresters in large scale operations
A lot of people still have a very romantic picture when they think of a forester. A man who stands in the woods, talks to deer, hugs trees and has a dachshund. But the truth is different: The forester has nowadays turned from a ranger to a eco-manager. This becomes most obvious during winter. Their districts have become larger, employees less, functional clothes have replaced the oldfashoned loden coat and instead of carrying a shotgun, the forester carries a laptop through the woods. Trees have to be logged, cut, sold and transported to the right location. Therefore weather has to play along: If it rains the whole schedule is delayed, has to be rearranged and the forest worker teams have to receive new commands. „Just in time“ are the magic words of a forester during winter.
"I work six days a week", says forester Axel Scholz of the forest district Sackbach. "I would even say six and a half", he adds. He forester colleague Hubertus Hauk of the Breitenbrunn district explains: "It are not only the typical winter works we have to do in the forests in the region of the Spessart mountains. We have to take care of the cutting of timber, hunt, plant and teach. I am the IT consultant for the forest disctricts and the numbers and logistics have to be correct." During winter hunts are scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays: battue and drive hunts for deer, roe deer and wild boar – sometimes with 30 to 100 people.
It is a trendy job and foresters like Scholz and Hauk, who have been working for 20 or 30 years still call it their dream job. Hauk summarizes: "All work to protect and use the forest has to be done during winter. Then people can enjoy the woods in summer."
We will follow the two foresters during these wintermonth.
