Erfolgreiche Reaktivierung eines Mittelwaldes im niedersächsischen Bergland.

In the Liebenburg forest district near Salzgitter in Lower Saxony, one of Germany's largest projects for restoring traditional coppice-with-standards forest management under today's economic and technical conditions has been underway for 35 years. This paper shows how species diversity, vegetation, and forest structure of this ancient coppice-with-standards woodland have been conserved and developed in comparison to a neighbouring site under high forest management. Based on this, the framework conditions are discussed under which conservation-oriented coppice-with-standards forest management can be successful today. Due to the natural site conditions and its centuries-long history of coppice-with-standards forest management, the study area has proven to be very suitable for reactivating this management technique. Ecological continuity had not been disrupted and the occurrences of animal and plant species typical for coppice-with-standards woodlands were successfully conserved and supported. The comparison of species' occurrences in the coppice-with-standards and high forest stands shows that the overall species richness and especially the number of exclusive species are significantly higher in the coppice-with-standards stand. Overall, the evaluation of animal and plant occurrences after the initial reactivation cycle documents a rich biodiversity that is typical for coppice-with-standards woodlands. The rotational felling of the underwood causes a small-scale coexistence of different succession stages and thus different microclimatic conditions. These habitats are missing in closed high forests. It becomes clear that active coppice-with-standards forest management is very well suited to permanently restore and secure the favourable conservation status of Galio-Carpinetum oakhornbeam forests and thus EU Habitats Directive habitat type 9170. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]