Original subtitles

LISA EDER FILM presents

in coproduction with National Park Bayerischer Wald

funded by FFF Bayern and DFFF

supported by Leir Foundation

in cooperation with SWR/ARTE

Line-Producers

Music

Director of Photography

Nature Photography

Montage

Author and Director

The Wild Forest

The National Park Bayerischer Wald, together with its neighbor,

the Sumava National Park,

forms the largest contiguous forest reserve in Central Europe.

Since 1970, nature is allowed to develop here without human influence.

DIANA SIX, Entomologist University of Montana

Human beings are part of nature. This is where we come from,

it is in us.

In wilderness you can realize this initial relationship

between humans and nature in a completely different way.

I think the wild can help us to re-detect our position in nature.

Actually, less than one percent of Europe is free of human influence.

Of course, you can ask whether

in the 21st century, wilderness is at all a viable project.

Nevertheless, the National Park shows it is possible.

Here we can see the impact of an unfolding wilderness.

Let's check if it's going to work out.

How can I put it?

Wilderness starts evolving as soon as people stop interfering.

This is the starting point.

The more time you allow for nature restoring itself,

the less domesticated it will turn out to be.

Since I've startet coming here, the National Park increasingly

redeveloped its original wild state.

And in some ways this is also true for myself.

I feel a growing yearning for the purity of the wild.

By now, I think we belong together.

Before, we were not that much of a team.

Now we've got things patched up.

And at some point, I was motivated to find out

if I'm capable of hiking through the park in one go.

Then, one day I did it.

From a German perspective, the idea of "letting nature be"

in a forest reserve was quite revolutionary -

'cause we're trying to give up intervening the system.

We're allowing nature to fully take its course

without pursuing any predetermined objectives.

Traditionally, people strongly interfered with the course of nature.

They took care of the forest, healing damages.

Now there's this brand new concept of zero intervention.

The National Park Bayerischer Wald inagurated on October 7, 1970.

Its spiritual founders are the conservationist Hubert Weinzierl

and the zoologist and wildlife filmmaker Bernhard Grzimek.

The Inner Bavarian Forest is a peripheral rural area.

There were hardly any job opportunities.

The general assumption was that founding a national park

will boost tourism.

Vacation centers for campers and caravaners,

even providing holiday-chalet comforts.

Modern holiday oasis, open all year round.

At the start, this National Park was

something the region wanted and supported —

but at that stage people didn't really know

what a "national park" actually meant.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Last night Western Europe suffered the third hurricane within five weeks.

At a top speed of 160 km/h it deroofed houses,

overturned vehicles and trees.

Germany's south was worst affected:

vast areas of timberland chopped to dead wood.

In national parks, nature must be allowed to evolve naturally.

Consequently, we were not allowed

to deforest the damage. By international guidelines it's

not a national park then.

First, there was the blow down, followed by the bark beetle.

We had to let it have it's way.

Once designed to serve as an exemplary model, it ended in disaster.

The National Park was meant to become Europe's Green Roof

with 24.000 hectares re-entrusted to nature. Millions of dead trees -

this green ignorance is now resulting in Europe's biggest forest die back.

The rigidity of eco ideologists literarily promoted the strong

breeding of the bark beetle, the killer of forests.

Is the concept of a national park nothing but a vital error?

This is simply a disaster.

There is nothing like this anywhere else in Germany!

We can discuss this, given the polemics ...

What polemics? It's our home that's being ruined!

They don't fight the problems. They neglect nature.

We bare the consequences, we are the people of this region!

Our ancestors have built this forest with their own sore hands.

We don't want this kind of national park!

Our ideas of a forest did not include dead trees.

Therefore, people were so furious.

Holiday guests, when they come here - what impression will they get?

"What did you do to your forest?"

What to say? It's not our fault!

The locals speak of "our forest"

and "the National Park".

Have you ever heard anyone saying: "Our National Park"?

Put people first - then you can think of nature!

People thought the forest was dying. Conservationists just standing by.

We were left with pale tree trunks - the storm took everything down.

Nothing is green anymore.

Clearly, this affects people's emotions.

It was the expansion of the National Park that took things to extremes.

People were against zero intervention, not using the timber.

They simply didn't want it!

Of course, you tried to make sure nobody followed you.

I even recived life threats - but I didn't take it that seriously.

The development of a forest takes a lot of time.

Surprisingly, the National Park proves, it recovers

even faster than expected.

We observe an extreme regeneration of nature.

Therefore, acceptance is growing.

This forest is not at all boring. On the contrary,

it is a highly diverse woodland, polymorphic indeed.

This benefits nature itself and also all of the

landscapes and woodlands surrounding the National Park.

Up to 1.4 million people visit the park each year -

to experience wilderness.

Ever body bares the wild within: It is part of us.

Even if we constantly try to manipulate it, to tame and change it,

it will keep raising its' head.

It's there - no matter what. And it doesn't stop functioning.

It is not limited to one location.

Nature's omnipresence and persistence are fascinating me.

It's really crazy: I had to rediscover and get to know the beauty of my

country from scratch.

When I was still young, I always wanted to leave, move to the city.

In my mid or late twenties it became clear to me:

There has to be more.

At the same time, I started taking pictures with my camera and

sensed that being in nature makes me a more balanced person.

The National Park is like a playground for me, really.

Nature doesn't care what you do.

If I look at a tree for one hour, I'm simply looking at a tree

for one hour without having to explain myself.

Plus, photography takes time.

It turned out just as I figured.

The faint.

Or simply ease and tranquility.

Before you think of having to walk up the next hill.

Way at the back you see the Rachel.

I guess this is going to be the toughest climb.

I'd say, my state of mind is somehow changed then.

Because your brains seem to function differently.

All of a sudden, it's all silent, quiet, smells differently.

Everything is slowing down, becoming more and more calm.

Just because of this everything turns into some kind of fantasy realm

that I'm entering, living in, then.

This is too dark.

It turned out quite dark.

Somehow, these photos do what they want,

not what I want them to.

I think I"ll be taking one more.

You can endure the loneliness somehow.

This isn't actually a problem for me.

My pictures often tell the tale of the lonesome wanderer,

who suddenly appears somewhere amidst breathtaking nature,

left on his own device.

Therefore ...

I guess, it is possible that to some extent I'm always searching for this.

One of the Germans' favorite dwelling places is ill — terminally ill, even.

Fires, gales, and climate change in addition.

Ideal conditions for the bark beetle.

The trees have to go so that these tiny animals will not multiply.

Between 2018 and 2020, around 180 million trees in Germany

fell prey to the bark beetle, storms, heat and fires.

Is the bark beetle an enemy of the spruce tree, or does it belong to it?

Our results in the National Park have ultimately shown

that it's simply a process of rejuvenation.

This rapid killing of the spruce brought a lot of light to the ground.

There's only one species that benefits greatly: the spruce itself.

So, for the spruce as a species, nothing much happened.

It's simply a rejuvenation.

Whenever these dynamic processes occur and disrupt our commercial forests,

we start talking about forest die back and disasters.

But these processes are mostly very beneficial

for the diversity and structures of species.

Chainsaws kill far more trees than bark beetles, blow downs or droughts.

We don't realize that. We don't refer to a tree we're sawing down as dead.

We've used it. That seems different.

From the perspective of the tree, it makes no difference.

Forest owners throughout Europe are

legally obliged to control the bark beetle.

FOREST DISTRICT SANDBACH, Bark beetle control Bavarian State Forests

Counteracting the spread of the bark beetle simply means

cutting down the spruces and removing them from the forest.

Forest owners are forced to implement this measure.

Which is both, detrimental and costly.

It has become obvious that for now, in Germany we don't seem to be able

to manage the development of the bark beetle issue at all.

We need confidence in the power of nature that has secured survival

throughout the millenniums, despite of any environmental impacts.

It's not our place to assume the human race is capable of managing every

development even though we know our knowledge

regarding coherences is very limited.

Gradually, the wild is returning to the national park.

To witness this, I'm spending large parts of my life here.

The national park has become my home.

It could easily do without me, but I couldn't do without it.

You've almost made it, right? - Not far to go now!

Good to know, thank you. - 50 meters.

Good, thank you. Ciao.

Actually, I was heading for the Minor Rachel.

We'll see.

Well, looks pretty good.

This is a part of the Rachel I have not yet been to.

It's a beautiful spot in the park. Not as crowded.

Actually, there's nothing going on here.

It was worth it, yes.

Over there, you see these big raptors.

That's great.

I think it's unlikely you know these places if you're not from these parts.

Where else would you find landscapes that are not yet completely paved?

I guess they hardly exist anymore.

Especially not in Germany.

I think this area of the park is comparable with Alaska or Siberia,

or Scandinavia. All of their beauty concentrated in one small spot.

You don't have to fly round the world. You can just put on your shoes, come

up here, and with a bit of luck you'll have the best day of your week.

It's always fascinating when I come here.

When I come down from the Rachel and have the Lusen within reach.

Then it's kind of like coming home.

When the National Park was founded, a list was compiled: of animals

actually present then, and of the ones which would have to be reintroduced.

One of the missing species was the lynx.

On the German side we tried to resettle them,

but in the early 90s our Czech colleagues finally managed

to release a sufficient number of lynxes into the wild.

And that formed the basis of today's lynx population.

When I am in a wildlife area, I expect there may be a lynx

close to where I am. I know there's almost

no chance of ever seeing one, but knowing these animals are

around is thrilling

and exciting in a positive way.

Also, knowing the wolf has returned to these woodlands.

This moves you, somehow.

CHASE AWAY WOLF 300 year old customs/Bodenrnats

Stabbed with knifes, battered to death - making sure no wolf will dare to

return from now on. That's why I bat my cane on the table, so every-

body will know it's Martini today and tomorrow.

Wolves remigrated by themselves.

Not just to the national parks but everywhere in Germany.

From Poland and Italy.

And then there was an exciting romance between a Polish female

and an Italian male here at the border ridge of the park.

The result were the first wolf cubs in the Park and also in Bavaria.

Wolves still live here today. Some- times more on the Sumava side,

sometimes more on ours. Wolves are very good at resettling former

habitats - if people let them have their way.

I regard the wolf as fundamentally important to the eco system.

It was missing here.

Now, it has returned and wants to complete the wildlife.

We should humbly embrace this development with respect.

Wolves live in Italy, in Spain, in Slovenia, wolves live in almost

every country surrounding us, also in settled environments.

Despite this, people do not hate wolves, they simply embrace this fact.

Surely, they are not happy when sheep get killed. However,

this should not make us reject the species as such, as the positive

effects for our woodlands vastly outweigh these incidents.

Wolves can help us re-nature our forests because of their impact on

deer and stag populations, preferably feeding on sprouts.

Swiss surveys show that, in contrast to the rest of the countryside,

forests to which wolves have re- migrated undergo positive changes.

As long as no one gets hurt, as I say, it's ok by me, the return of the wolf.

Or who knows which other animals may come back.

But on the other hand, I wonder, why then did we wipe them out hundreds

of years ago? They must have had good reasons, people weren't daft.

As long as the wolves keep to the forest, it's ok,

but surely, they can't be tolerated in villages.

The longer this proliferation proceeds the stronger the conflict will become.

Some people say: don't shoot them, others say: do it. That's the problem.

People wiped out wolves and bears about 100, 120 years ago.

People did that! And now, it's people saying: we need them back.

ANIMAL OUTDOOR AREA National Park Centre, Lusen

Visitors will hardly ever get to see wolves in a natural forest because

these animals are very shy, and in the beginning the basic idea was

to present large animal species to visitors.

Being able to observe wolves creates mixed feelings in me.

On one hand it is very inter sting to observe how they behave, on the

other hand it feels wrong that this is some kind of entertainment.

The wolf looks back at you. This makes you wonder: "what am I doing here?"

It's confusing.

People visit the wolf reserve in particular to see this animal.

However, it's absurd to say that watching this wild animal thrills me

while it's locked up and stuck behind the fence. Therefore, if we love wild

animals and think, they're great, we should accept that they are returning

to their original habitat, where they used to live.

With the return of the wolf, the fauna of big game within both national

parks is completed again. Except for the brown bear and the bison.

Still today, Wolf and lynx are perceived as a threat. During the

past 25 years, 83 lynxes were illegally killed in the

sorroundings of the two national parks.

I can put up with a lot of nature.

Just sitting by the water, aware of the trees,

the fish, the clouds, feeling the sun and wind.

I'm never tired of this.

There is nothing more beautiful.

Whenever I am out just by myself, peaceful and placid.

I feel immersed.

Like becoming part of it all.

It's a sense of belonging.

Nature makes me feel alive.

And that life is worth living.

The wild as such is omnipresent, natural processes are unfolding.

Only, as humans we can't see it because we don't know how anymore.

Let me use a metaphor: The body is the untamed nature,

our clothing is our cultural world.

If we constantly hide our body in our clothing,

it doesn't do our body any good. The body needs space to express itself.

RESEARCH STATION SPIEGELAU National Park Bayerischer Wald

Of eight million species of both flora and fauna in the world,

about one million are already threatened with extinction.

We actually observe that some of the extremely rare species,

some close to extinction in Germany, suddenly become more numerous here.

In this respect the National Park really is like Noah's Ark.

Almost a quarter of all flora and fauna known in Germany live in the

National Park Bayerischer Wald.

Including more than 2000 species of beetles.

FOREST OPERATION EICHELBERG Passau

Careful! No, the arrow is for the beeches,

because the beech gets thrown in in one piece.

There, you see the two spruces I've tagged

for capping because they are going to fall on the road if we leave them.

They have to be capped to protect the traffic on the road.

I'd rather keep them.

It's a shame, isn't it, capping these spruces, but it's too dangerous.

Plus, removing them is also going to help the oaks build their crowns.

It's always a conflict deciding either using a tree for its timber ...

or maintaining it for the habitat.

In the forestry business it's your main goal to use the timber,

but because this one is so remarkably strong, I've decided to keep it.

Trunks of this size are rare, both in living trees as in dead wood.

Checking the diameters of the tree trunks in my forest, comparing

to those in the national park, I see every single day when I leave

the house, it's pretty sobering when you're aware of the common

dimensions. These are all children here, or youngsters at the most.

If you come a little further up here Tom should be able to fit the whole

tree-top onto this patch of grass over there. If it can be done from there.

We try to demonstrate that commercial forests can be run

by maintaining natural forest structures to a certain extent, while

not only making sure economical targets won't suffer, but even trying

to create positive economical business effects whenever possible.

Take care!

In one way or another, fifty percent of all species living in Germany's

forests depend on dead wood. And today we know, the diversity of dead

wood is crucially important - some standing, some lying on the ground -

as well as its permanent supply.

This one fell in there nicely.

Can we check if there's any biotic colonization in the crown,

so we can find out why it died?

There's nothing down there, is it? You can't see any holes yet?

Ah, but here's something.

I feel responsible for my forest owners, because they expect certain

profits, they expect me to keep their forests in decent condition and

I certainly feel especially respon- sible for the forest itself, for what

is going on in here, and for all of the living creatures of this habitat.

I'm working to bring all this into alignment in the most nature-friendly

and mindful way.

Within the past 10 years, the amount of dead wood in Eichelberg has

increased by ten times and along with it the habitat for many species

of animals and fungi.

Since I first visited virgin woodlands my way of tending to a forest

changed profoundly. The first virgin woodlands I visited were in fact part

of the National park Bayerischer Wald because they were easy to get to.

And I believe a visit should be compulsory for every single ranger,

giving them ideas about what's going on.

Now we are in a part of the forest where you find many old trees,

all of them about 200 years old, even though it is in commercial use.

These trees would never exist in any common commercial forest.

For me, these trees are simply pure joy, they are such wonderful

living beings and simply belong in a forest.

Trees like these must be in a forest, they are making a forest

what I think one should expect of it.

Most of Germany's forests have nothing in common with the

ancient woodlands that were natural to each region.

The difference to intact eco systems is obvious, they suffer much less

from current occurrences of the dying forest syndrome than the

artificial plantations, which are, in fact, timber farms.

Touching this, you feel it's a great water absorber, it's dripping wet.

This wood is almost earth, almost decomposed to earth.

A natural forest does not need human beings. It's people

who need forest management. I like working with wood,

wood is a wonderful raw material. In order to bring a high degree

of biodiversity to our forests, management interventions are

necessary. The forest does not need it, but we do.

Especially when you're standing in a high place, seeing the cars move

down there, maybe hearing chainsaws going.

All those people and their errands for this day,

then I do feel free somehow, because I take some time

to break away from the usual ways of our world.

Therefore, this tour, being out in nature, it's much about freedom.

Final peak!

From here, it's mainly downhill for several kilometers to get over there.

I've come to here, now. Well, but you still see them:

Dreisessel, Rachel, during the past few days they make my backdrop.

Beautiful.

I'll manage the rest too.

You have to get involved with nature to know

what it actually is.

That you can really feel what it does for you.

This is a treasure that no one can take away from you.

That nobody can spoil for you.

You own this experience and that is most important.

Human beings and nature, they belong together.

Wilderness is no threat to our existence now,

what threatens our existence is our own civilization.

Therefore, I'm convinced that we can handle and need

much more of wilderness.