Bonn state forest 631 trees ready for auction
Röttgen · Trees felled in the Kottenforst and other forests are auctioned off each year to buyers from Germany and abroad.
The quality wood auction has grown enormously since it was started 30 years ago by Rolf Hocker of the Forestry Office. “He stood in the Kottenforst with a little hammer,” remembers Wolfgang Bongardt from the Kottenforst forestry area. Things have changed since then as the auction has grown and it now takes place via submissions of bids in an office rather than in the forest.
The auction is on 1 February in the Youth Hostel on the Venusberg. Until then, the tree trunks are lined up on a lane between Röttgen and Meckenheim. Each trunk is measured and added to a long list. There are currently 631 trunks with a total of 1150 metres of wood. Bongardt says 75 per cent are oak. The rest are wild cherry, conifer and various other sorts.
The wood is transported from an area between the Lower Rhine and Ahrweiler. It makes sense for buyers if they can see all trunks in one place and Bonn was chosen because of its good transport links.
Around one hundred customers from Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands receive the list of trees. There are always around 30 bidders. The most valuable wood is used for veneer for readymade furniture. The majority is used by sawmills for crates or boards.
Sustainable forestry is practised. “We don’t cut down more than is grown again,” says Bongardt and all trees are inspected. If they find a woodpecker’s hole or a hiding place for bats, the tree is left standing. (Original text: Stefan Knopp. Translated by Kate Carey.)
