There are many forests in Europe, most of which are used for commercial logging purposes and which are no longer left to develop in a natural way. In particular this interference includes the cultivation of trees at an accelerated pace and the introduction of non-indigenous species to an area.
The result of this are forests which are lacking in variety, or monospecific forests. In a joint venture, Naturefund and Michelin campaigned for natural reforestation across Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Michelin and Naturefund have together planted around 25,000 Beech trees in the Spessart region. In this area, on a slope close to the city of Bad Orb, a Spruce forest extends over a total of 24 hectares.
Droughts, storms and Bark beetles have caused some damage to the Spruce trees which are not local to this area. It is rather the hardier Beech tree which occurs naturally here and which is considerably more resistant to such conditions.
Therefore in barren areas, Beech trees are being planted with the aim that Beech forests will become established and will last long into the future.
In 2007 there was a big storm on the Jolimont mountain, one of the highest in the Jura mountain range in Berner Seeland and many non-indigenous Douglas fir trees were uprooted.
However naturally-occurring Oak and Hornbeam trees can resist drought and storms relatively well.
Together with the local community of Erlach and Michelin, Naturefund has planted around 2,000 Oak trees here.
In Austria, together with the local government forestry department, we have begun a project to plant rare and almost extinct tree varieties.
This includes the very rare wildfruit Sorbus tree, as well as Yew trees and a very rare type of Oak tree that is indigenous to Austria. In total around 3,000 trees have been planted.
This reforestation came about as a result of the Michelin initiative 'A Greener Trail'. In the Spring of 2008, a tree was planted for every set of Michelin summer tyres sold.
The reason why summer tyres were chosen for this campaign is due to the optimized friction they produce which decreases mileage and consequently reduces CO2emissions.
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Among others with the Energy Globe Awards and the UN Decade of Biodiversity
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