Photo: Lisa Reichel
Bea Linnert, how do you become a tree expert?
In Germany there is no training and therefore no set path to work as a tree expert. To work as an expert with authorities and in court, it is necessary to be sworn in. And in order to be sworn in, an exam is taken.
What did your path to becoming a tree expert look like?
I was already involved in eco-political issues as a teenager. After school, I first trained as a bookseller and worked in the bookstore for a few years. After that I went to the USA for a few years. There I studied garden design at a college with a focus on woody plants and then received further training in caring for trees before I returned to Germany.
Interview
Lisa Reichel
Bea Linnert is a sworn tree expert. The 62-year-old lives in Bremen and works independently.
Were you able to build on this training well here?
To be honest, people here were rather reserved towards my expertise. That’s why I took the further training as a “specialist agronomist for tree care” and then worked in tree care for about 15 years, i.e. caring for, cutting and felling trees using rope climbing techniques. For reasons of age – according to the motto “Nobody can do this job forever” – I trained more intensively and was sworn in as a tree expert in 2014.
What are your tasks as sworn tree experts?
In my work I deal with trees that have a creative function. I don’t deal with the timber industry; foresters are responsible for that. Basically, my job is all about the expert assessment of trees. For example, it’s about tree statics, arranging care and writing care concepts. I accompany construction projects and determine the value of trees. A fundamentally important part is traffic safety.
So on the one hand it’s about protecting the tree, and on the other hand it’s about protecting people from the tree?
People need trees more than trees need people. When it comes to urban trees, the focus is on the benefits that people have. Trees mean, among other things, air cooling, dust binding, shade and they bind carbon. Trees in cities lack important aspects of their well-being. The natural tree location is a forest. But urban trees almost never find site conditions similar to those in a forest. This affects the health and life expectancy of the trees.
What exactly is missing from city trees?
In principle, we see old trees in our cities, which means that it is entirely possible for trees to grow and grow old in cities. What we see above ground in trees, i.e. the tree crown, is what we humans benefit from. For trees, however, the roots and the underground root space are essential. In the city, this is damaged, for example, by compaction, the tight network of pipes and dog urine. These are definitely factors that we can do something about.
What measures are already being implemented to improve the growing conditions for urban trees?
Basically, a location and the choice of tree species must match. This means that the tree location must provide sufficient growth conditions for the entire planned tree life. The area for the roots must therefore be large enough to allow them to grow in the long term. The volume of soil available is often larger today than it was years ago. This is basically good and can get even better. However, large tree locations also cost more space and money.
And free space is in short supply in our cities.
We have to start addressing property rights in urban areas, for example parking spaces. If a parked vehicle or a good tree location is an alternative, then we should consider how we solve parking differently, perhaps using high-rise car parks. Continuing as before makes no sense. Trees that are intended to fulfill functions are not gap fillers, but rather part of a promising climate concept for future generations.
What else could we try to make it easier for urban trees to grow?
I think it’s definitely justified to think about whether single trees are generally a smart solution in the city or whether it might be smarter to plant more groups of trees. Trees as a group have a common root space. This takes up less space and is better for the trees.
Has anything positive developed in recent years with regard to climate protection and urban trees?
Many people are concerned with this in the context of human-caused climate change. And trees are increasingly perceived as something valuable.
For what reason Do tree experts even determine the value of trees?
Legally, trees are tangible assets and can belong to private individuals or municipalities. If a tree is damaged or felled unlawfully, those who own the tree will be compensated. Or another example: A tree protected by a tree statute is to be felled. If such felling is approved, the compensation measure is often based on the value of the tree. The tree value must therefore be determined.
How is the value of a tree determined?
The only recognized valuation method for trees that I deal with is called the Koch method. However, from the point of view of a colleague and myself, there are problems in connection with the laws on species protection that can no longer be ignored. We have been working for seven years to adapt the valuation method for trees to the changes in our society, i.e. to the climate crisis and the revised Federal Nature Conservation Act. Right now it looks like this ball is starting to roll.
What would then be adjusted?
According to the “Koch method”, a deduction must be made for damage to the tree. Damage can currently also be a woodpecker hole, i.e. a habitat. This contradicts our Federal Nature Conservation Act, which states that the woodpecker hole is a strictly protected structure. We thought about how, within the legally recognized valuation method, we could evaluate something like a woodpecker hole not as a defect, but as an appreciation in the spirit of environmental protection.
How do we finance all these ideas about climate protection?
Trees as such provide CO2-Storage provides an ecosystem service and, in my view, the private tree owners contribute this service to the common good. It is possible to say: Anyone who has a property with trees must be rich and can provide something to the community. There is something to the argument, but it is often not true. In principle, many trees are preserved privately. There are trees even on properties where the owners are not rich. What if tree owners could say: “I need financial support to care for the trees.” Financing assistance from tax money could contribute to the preservation of trees and thus directly to the well-being of people and the environment today and in the future.
Subscribe to the “nd”
Being left is complicated.
We keep track!
With our digital promotional subscription you can read all issues of »nd« digitally (nd.App or nd.Epaper) for little money at home or on the go.
Subscribe now!
sbobet judi bola sbobet link sbobet