Turning Green into Yellow

By Anastasia Toufexis

One-third of West Germany's precious forests are dying off

Surveying row upon row of scrawny, sagging firs and spruces, Forester Hubert Eh threw up his hands in despair. "We were always so proud of these trees," said Eh. "Now the Black Forest is becom ing the Yellow Forest. It's enough to make you cry."

Eh's domain lies near the resort village of Herrenalb in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. In the hills above the quaint Black Forest town, the dark evergreens that gave the region its name are dying, victims of a blight that is destroying an alarming amount of the for est acreage of heavily industrialized West Germany. In the central state of Hesse, 10% of the spruce are now gone; in the northern city-state of Hamburg, almost 25% of the pines are suffering. Southern Germany has been hit most severely: more than half the trees in the 2,300-sq.-mi. Black and 1,800-sq.-mi. Bavarian for ests are damaged, and the devastation is spreading. Last year, according to the Interior Ministry in Bonn, only 8% of the nation's forests were afflicted. This year the figure has leaped to 34%. The situation in East German forests is reported to be even worse.

The signs of what Germans call Waldsterben, or dying forests, are obvious. New leaves and needles, smaller than usual, turn yellow or brown and finally drop to the ground. In time, many evergreens, some of them 150 years old, simply stop bearing needles. Roots and trunks begin to warp, gnarl and shrink.

Insects and mushrooms colonize the sick trees, hastening the plants' deaths. About 15% of West Germany's oaks and 26% of its beeches are ailing. But evergreens have been the most susceptible: 76% of the country's firs are affected.

The damage was first detected around 1970, but scientists suspect that the destruction be gan two decades earlier. One clue: cross sections of tree trunks show that their growth rings, widely separated for more than a century, began narrowing in the 1950s and '60s, a sign of impaired growth. Researchers initially blamed severe climatic conditions, like the near drought of 1976. Today suspicion focuses on environmental pollution, particularly the acid rain caused by auto and industrial emissions.

(West German industries burn 3.5 million tons of coal a year, leading to heavy discharges of sulfur dioxide.) According to Professor Bernhard Ulrich, an expert on soil science at the University of Gottingen, acidic downpours can leach key nutrients, such as calcium and potassium, from the soil, or deposit toxic metals like aluminum. Acid rain might also prevent microorganisms in the soil from converting organic debris into fertilizer. Professor Peter Schiitt of the University of Munich believes that dry, airborne particles of metal are the culprits, along with acid rain. Says he: "What is shocking is that whole areas are affected with such speed and that no one has a satisfactory explanation."

The economic costs of the destruction are huge. Timber and related industries are losing $509 million a year, and one expert says that if the damage continues uncontrolled, it could eventually total $9 billion to $11 billion. The wound to the German psyche is also enormous. Celebrated in the work of Wagner, Goethe, Brecht and the Brothers Grimm, the country's woodlands, which cover one-third of West Germany, have had an almost mystical hold on citizens for centuries. In October, while protests against deployment of U.S. nuclear missiles raged, a poll by Allensbach revealed that Germans dreaded the death of their forests even more than an escalating arms race.

Politicians of all persuasions have joined in the battle to save the trees, among them Interior Minister Friedrich Zimmermann of the Bavarian-based Christian Social Union and Christian Democrat Karl Carstens, President of the Federal Republic, who has taken highly publicized days-long rambles through blighted woods. Largely on the basis of its hard-line stance on preserving the wood lands, the counterculture Green Party won 27 seats in the West German parliament in last winter's elections.

To combat Waldsterben, the government has increased the amount of research money from $1.6 million in 1983 to $2.8 million in 1984. New pollution controls have been issued, limiting the amount of sulfur, nitrogen and metal emissions that can be spewed into the air from factories. The government is also urging greater use of fertilizers like lime that counteract acidity in the soil. In addition, it has promised that lead-free gasoline and catalytic converters, now available in limited quantities, will be introduced on a wide scale in 1986.

Many environmentalists consider government action to be woefully in adequate for abating the dangers.

3 They want even more stringent s industrial and auto controls. In S December, members of Robin Wood, an environmental group, wrapped a 1,500-square-meter area of the Black Forest in plastic to protect the trees from pollution for one day. Said one of their leaders: "We ought to have wrapped up the whole Black Forest." In West Berlin, members tossed dead trees over the Wall into East Germany to protest the Communist state's coal-burning policy. Last month Franz and Maria Gebele, farmers in Wolfach, a Black Forest town, filed suit against the federal government, charging that 80% of the trees on their tract in the Black Forest had been damaged. The Gebeles asked for compensation of $30,900.

"We must do something now," says Botanical Expert Ulrich, who adds that it will be ten years or more before government actions become effective. Professor Schuett agrees. "In my view, there is too much talk and too lit tle action," he complains. "I have no hope at the moment because all the measures have come too late."

-- By Anastasia Toufexis. Reported by Gary Lee/Bonn

With reporting by Gary Lee/Bonn