Forest owners in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district set up a cooperative – Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district

Private and municipal forest owners in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district are breaking new ground in marketing wood. Five forest management associations (FBG), the city of Titisee-Neustadt and the district have now founded the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald forest cooperative in Oberried, as the district office announced.

“With an annual marketing volume of more than 200,000 cubic meters (…), the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald forest cooperative is a serious partner on the timber market.” Karl-Ludwig Gerecke, District Chief

From January 1, 2022, the cooperative will take over the sale of wood for all of the forest owners it represents. “The sale of wood via our wood sales point, which was previously organized under public law, worked well, but is no longer up-to-date with regard to the future framework conditions,” explains First State Official Martin Barth. The main reason is that only associations organized under private law receive state funding for the bundling of timber volumes.

33,000 hectares of forest are represented in the cooperative

With seven founding members, the cooperative is deliberately set up in a lean way. Forest owners are represented indirectly through the forestry management associations. The main purpose of the cooperative is the best possible marketing of all wood ranges. With around 33,000 hectares, around half of the forest area in the district is represented in the cooperative. “That means an annual marketing volume of more than 200,000 cubic meters, and that makes the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald forest cooperative a serious partner on the timber market,” says District Forestry Director Karl-Ludwig Gerecke. The merger also guarantees a high level of delivery security for customers and sawmills.

With Christian Hauser (Jostal) and Rüdiger Ahlers (Mayor of Münstertal) two long-time FBG chairmen were elected to the board. The authorized representative is Oberried’s mayor Klaus Vosberg, chairman of the FBG Kirchzarten; Stefan Lehmann was appointed as authorized signatory. Matthias Laubis, the previous head of the wood sales point, is responsible for the operational business.

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