It’s hard to believe I was just in Ireland a mere three days ago. It already feels as though it’s been a lifetime! Crazy! Now we are on the last day in Germany, the test has been taken, not sure how well I’m going to do on it. There were lots of days where it was impossible to take notes with all the rain, but we will see… Many of the field trip/lectures we received were kind of repetitive, so all the material is in my head, it’s matter of whether I was able to sort through it efficiently enough on the test. Oh well, I don’t want speculate more than I already am—it usually doesn’t bode well.
On the bright side, we had a massive farewell feast with our German hosts: red deer venison, real potato salad, wurstsalat, mixed veggies, and BREAD!!! Heaven, I tell you. I am now a content butterball :)
Our last two days of lecture and field trips were actually very interesting. We visited a waste management plant, a biogas plants and observed some large timber cutting. While I may not have comprehended everything as well I wished I could, I still enjoyed it all the same.
The Böblingen Biomass Thermal Power Station was very unique. A little background on German waste/recycling management: they are eons ahead of us!! They sort everything. I mean everything! In our room, we have three baskets depending on what kind of waste it is and when all is collected, it’s further sorted! Anyhow, this plant basically incinerates everything that cannot be recycled and has a special system to clean and filter out any of the emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Heat and electricity are produced in the processes and then are stored and used to heat and provide electricity for about 40,000 people in the area of the plant!! This is the gist of it. The Biogas plant also works in a similar fashion. The intricate details of the processes are lost on me since I am hopeless when it comes to physics and chemistry! That and a lot is lost in translation (no pun intended, but true!)
Yesterday was yet another day spent wandering through the Black Forest, surveying for red and roe deer browsing damage as well as seeing a few large trees be felled. There is a significant problem with deer browsing, especially since the deer browse on the species the Germans are trying most to have regenerated. The white/silver fir is preferred by the deer since they have larger, softer, and tastier buds essentially. There is also the problem of trying to manage for populations. The deer mostly browse fir, but occasionally spruce buds will browsed as well. When this happens, it’s strong evidence that the populations are growing rapidly, since the deer tend to stay one area rather than travel through the forest.
The tree felling was awesome! Germans do not clear cut their forests as we sometimes do in the US. They selectively cut trees every 10 years in a certain area. Their ultimately goals for their forests are to be uneven-aged and mixed deciduous-coniferous stands of beech, spruce and fir. So, by selectively cutting larger trees every ten years, it allows the smaller ones to grow. I should say that they prefer the fir, since it grows rapidly in the first few years, as do the spruce, but fir are still preferred since they are more valuable from an economical and profitable standpoint. Kind of an interesting take on the issue of forest management…
Ok, back to tree felling! We got to see two large, 80-100 year old silver firs fall. The whole process of felling one tree took about 15 minutes! They have worked out a system by doing a series of cuts that allows them to control where a tree will fall. It’s crazy! It has to do with where the first cut is made, at what angle cuts are made, how much pressure is on the cable holding the tree. Tree felling is a science in and of itself, I would wager. It’s crazy to think that the amount of pressure on the cable will make or break which direction a tree will fall! I suppose it’s not rocket science that you would want to control when and where a tree will fall, especially for safety reasons, but then what do I know about forestry, except for the last few weeks? I concern myself with trees when they impede or are lacking within a certain animal habitat…
Well, I think I’d better get at that packing, make sure I’m not going to over the weight limit with all that schnapps, wine, and Jameson….not really, but there may end up being a stowaway in my bag on the way back. Not really all that bad when you think about it :)
Now onto Iceland!!
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