Greeting to "The Lößnitzgrund calls 2024"

Dear nature-loving people of Radebeul,

Admittedly, I was a little surprised at first when the Landesbühnen asked me to support the event »The Lößnitzgrund is calling ...«.

Culture and forestry? Do they go together? Are there any interesting connections?

After brief consideration, I am absolutely convinced!

The wonderful cultural landscape in the garden city of Radebeul, the Elbe floodplain, the vineyards and the near-natural wooded valleys are not just a beautiful backdrop for tourists or calendar pages - our home landscape is evidence of centuries of utilisation, of a cultural and historical achievement by generations of farmers, gardeners, winegrowers, town planners and foresters.

However, if we look at our forest in the »last seasons«, I can unfortunately only tell you about absolutely turbulent times: Dry years, bark beetle plagues, forest fires, African swine fever, insect mortality and quantities of damaged timber at historically unprecedented levels have unfortunately become part of our daily business. Our forestry scientists are trying to find reliable answers to these huge and diverse challenges.

At the same time, fortunately, more and more people are taking an interest in the forest, using it for recreation, sport and many, many other leisure activities. Nature and species conservationists, local historians, hunters, craftsmen, the timber industry, monument conservationists, neighbouring landowners - they all have legitimate interests in the forest. How do we harmonise all these different social interests? We foresters are not the only ones who ask ourselves this question every day.

Let us retain an interest in our natural environment. Let's change our perspective, pay attention to details along the way and respect our companions.

I wish us a fulfilling day with wonderful music from the Radebeul Music School and would like to thank all those involved who have put their energy into preparing and organising this day.

I look forward to talking to you and will be very happy to answer your questions and discuss your thoughts on the forest.

Thomas Nikol, District Manager Sachsenforst