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For centuries, spruce monocultures shaped the landscape of the Harz Mountains. Today, this appearance is changing. Spruce was long a sought-after timber for mining and the timber industry and was therefore also planted at altitudes where it does not naturally occur.  

After the Second World War, additional wood was needed for reconstruction, heating and reparations. Between the 1930s and around 1950, heavy overuse and clear-cutting led to some 140,000 hectares of deforested land in Lower Saxony alone. Foresters and the so-called “culture women” achieved great work in reforesting these areas. Their contribution was honoured on the West German 50-pfennig coin – it showed a kneeling woman planting an oak tree. In times of great scarcity, the “culture women” worked for low wages to help rebuild the forest. In the Harz, sufficient spruce seeds were the only ones available at the time. Thus, the spruce became the “bread tree” of the region and was also planted in places where deciduous trees such as beech, maple, birch and ash would naturally grow.  

Just as humans shaped the landscape over centuries, it is now continuing to change naturally through climate and weather influences. Nature still remains the most important recreation area of the Harz, but its appearance is gradually transforming. Around the Brocken massif and in the higher mountain areas, large expanses of dead spruce trees now dominate the scenery. In Harz National Park, these areas are largely left to themselves: the trees remain standing or fall as determined by natural processes. In the managed forestry areas, the forest offices actively drive the transformation so that young vegetation soon grows again on clearings. The transformation of the forest is not a local phenomenon – similar developments are taking place in forests all over the world.  

The bark beetle is considered to be the trigger of spruce dieback in the Harz region. Healthy spruces can defend themselves against the beetles with resin, while weakened trees cannot. Dry summers since 2018 and storms have damaged the stands so badly that large-scale infestation became inevitable. 

Just a few beetles are enough to make a spruce die. In warm, dry years the insects reproduce rapidly: a single female can produce up to 200,000 offspring over several generations. This explosive spread shows how closely climate conditions and pest pressure are linked. The bark beetle itself is therefore not the real cause, but a consequence of climate change. Rising temperatures and persistent drought also weaken other tree species. Especially in the southern Harz, beeches and ashes suffer from climate stress and are susceptible to diseases and parasites.

The rapid changes in the Harz forest are causing debates, especially on social media. Often, they revolve around the question of who is to blame. But one thing is clear: everyone shares some responsibility. Even if opinions differ on how much humans influence the climate, the many climate records of recent years show clear connections. 

The adaptability of many tree species is not sufficient to keep up with the speed of this change. Blaming the Harz National Park, where natural processes are largely left to themselves, does not help. What really matters is finding ways together to secure the future of the forest.