Giant Sequoia Planting in Austria🌲
Written by Bob Yeager, Director of The Great Reserve.
The idea of planting some of our Giant Sequoia saplings in the Tyrolean Alps began in November of 2023 in a conversation with my wife Uta Kögelsberger about the plight of a group of farmers in Austria and a meeting with Henry and Jill.
Uta was working on a new project for her then upcoming exhibition Forest Complex. The theme of exhibition was the plight of the Tyrolean forests effected by climate change and the impact this is having on society. The changing climate has brought a drastic rise in pine bark beetle infestations as well as extreme wind events which are destroying large swaths of the native forest, consisting primarily of spruce trees. Both the shallow root system of Spruce and the dominance of second and third generation monocultures makes Austrian forests extremely vulnerable to these threats.
These forests fulfil the critical safety function of holding the mountainsides in place protecting the villages and farms from devastating landslides and avalanches. For many of the farmers who own these forests they used to act as a kind of ‘savings account’ that could be felled at maturity to fund the purchase of new equipment. With bark beetle and storm damaged wood flooding the markets the price of raw timber has dropped drastically and the farmers are barely able to make ends meet after clearing the damage.
Acknowledging the challenges the native forests are facing, the Austrian forestry commission has opened up to planting of non-native tree species that may be better able to cope with the beetles and wind storms. One of the species they have studied and concluded could be a viable addition to future tree plantings is the Giant Sequoia and Uta had been discussing the idea of a trial planting project with the foresters and farmers she was collaborating with for her exhibition. After many conversations and research including ruling out any potential unwanted impacts of planting sequoias in Austria we got the green light for an exciting pilot project to test if giant sequoia could provide a solution for those areas that are now left exposed to mudslide and avalanche risks.
This so clearly aligned with the aims of the Great Reserve that we agreed that donating these saplings to those in need in Austria was a worthwhile endeavour and we began working on how to make it happen.
Logistics – How do we get the trees there?
We set a target of 400 trees and started making a list of the questions we needed to answer.
How do you ship 400 saplings so that they will stay viable?
What will the EU require to allow the trees to cross the border?
How can we do this at a cost per tree that is affordable?
Who will be willing to accept the responsibility for planting these trees when we get them to Austria?
Jill got to work on the first two questions, Uta and I on the third and fourth.
With the help of the team and out nursery contractors we ended up deciding on a ‘box’ that could hold 200 saplings resting on a pallet that would make transport very manageable given the right vehicle and access to a forklift.
Jill’s initial research into what we needed to do to export these trees led her to contacting the Plant Health Forestry division of the UK Forestry Commission. She was redirected to APHA, the Animal and Plant Health Agency where she connected with Andrew Griffiths. Andy offered to assist us in getting a concessionary rate for the Plant Health Safety inspection that our saplings would be required to pass before they could enter the EU. Getting a concessionary rate was one of many steps we took to minimise the expense of this project. Andy is another one of the many people who provided us with much more assistance, going far beyond his usual role or performing an inspection and providing the documentation.
Meanwhile, Uta let Thomas Pitterle – Forest Ranger in Ausservillgraten, Tirol, Austria know that the Great Reserve was excited about the idea of providing the saplings. Thomas connected us with Christian Annewanter responsible for Tyrol’s Forest Nurseries, who would become our primary contact person in Austria. We identified 7 shipping companies and requested a quote to collect the trees from and deliver them to Thomas in Austria. Six of them refused to quote the work and the one who did quoted Euro 1,650 for one pallet, exclusive of customs clearance work, a price that threatened to derail the project.
As Uta was scheduled to install her Forest Complex exhibition in mid- February, we were very focused on completing the works and figuring out how to transport them to Austria. This involved learning the intricacies of the ATA Carnet temporary export and reimport procedures developed between the UK and the EU to enable to movement of exhibit goods in the post-Brexit world. Our research to find a way to ship the delicate large format photographic prints that made up a large part of her exhibition brought us to the realisation that our best, though not very enticing, approach was to hire a rental van and drive the work there ourselves and to use the same approach to collecting the work in July to bring them back home. When she calculated the dimensions of the van needed to hold her works we realized that it was the same size that could be used to transport the two pallets of saplings.
So, while the Forestry team in Austria would ideally have liked to receive the trees in March that wasn’t something we could make happen. But we had a back up plan in mind.
Would there be enough demand to make the project economically viable?
The Austria planting was put on the back shelf in March and the first half of April.
Uta was fully engrossed in completing the video works and the book that would be part Forest Complex.
The TGR spring planting trip was held.
I trained for and walked the Yorkshire 3-Peaks challenge.
Uta and I attended the Vienna Climate Biennale.
We kept in touch with the folks in Austria about how many trees they had commitments for but the number was stuck around 200. We were concerned that this would make the cost per tree prohibitive for the farmers. We felt it was important for the farmers to make contribute financially to the project, that the trees shouldn’t be free.
We pinned our hopes on the upcoming exhibition to generate the additional interest we felt was needed to go forward.
BTV VIER LANDER BANK hosts two exhibitions each year. The ground floor of the bank’s headquarters in Innsbruck consist of a large atrium, a concert hall and the INN Situ programme. An international artist is invited to create works in response to Tyrol and a musician is invited to create a new work in response to the artist’s work. The opening consists of three consecutive nights of live events; the art exhibition opening, a concert and a talk about the works on the third evening. It is well publicized. In the weeks before the opening Uta was interviewed for spots on television and radio.
The opening was well attended and we were ecstatic with all the people from Ausservillgraten and Zillertal who travelled, some for more than 2 hours each way, to attend. After the opening we had a commitment to 320 trees.
Picking up the trees – tour of the nursery
Tuesday July 16th
London to Sequoia nursery, 165 miles.
After a very convoluted process of understanding the requirements of what is needed to export plants from the UK to the EU including completing a CHED-PP and The Plant Health Certificate amongst others we were on our way in an empty Ford Transit. We had postponed the start several times. First, for me to get back to London from my work in Sequoia Crest to complete repairs of the irrigation lines and finalizing the plans for the volunteers there to water the Baby Giants through the upcoming summer heat of California and then an extra day in London to make sure Uta and I had everything we needed to take down and package her art works after the Forest Complex exhibition closed on July 20th.
We arrived at the nursery shortly before 4 pm to meet the team. They loaded the two pallets, each containing 170 saplings and gave us a tour of the nursery.
Nursery to Folkestone – 250 miles
A mostly smooth drive through Birmingham, around London on the M25. Uta did most of the driving but I had my first go at driving the van on what for me is the wrong side of the road. Traffic was light most of the way except for a nasty section where the M20 was closed and we diverted onto the A20 with a long queue of other frustrated motorists.
Crossing the Channel
Wednesday July 17th
Folkestone, UK to Charleroi, Belgium – 252 km – with a long stopover in Calais
Calais – they don’t understand, they do understand, we think we are on our way, another obstacle, being told we have to go back, the efforts of the people to get us through. Ready to eat meals intended for refugees.
After a ride on the LeShuttle to Calais we made our way to SIVEP and Customs. The SIVEP team checked our phytosanitary certificate and CHED-PP form. The whole team came out to the van to look at our two huge cartons of trees. They pulled one out of the carton and passed it around as they had never seen a sequoia sapling before. Fortunately for us they were very excited about our project as we came to rely on their efforts for the next 8 hours as they plead our case to the Border Control officer. The Brits had told us we needed one set of papers, the Austrias another. We got both, but when we got to Calais the French customs officer could not wrap their head around the fact that this was a donation and said we needed yet another. And so we spent the afternoon and into the early evening with the SIVEP team trying one approach after another to appease the Border Control agent and convince her that we and our truckload of trees should be allowed into the EU. Phone calls to the nursery to obtain some additional documentation; to Austria for support on the CHED-PP and back and forth and back and forth again. It was very touch and go. At one point the SIVEP team told us we would need to return to the UK to resolve whatever the problem was. Shall I just say we were beyond distraught, surrounded by the SIVEP team, all of us frustrated nearly beyond our capacity to cope. Without the support of the amazing people from the SIVEP team that continued to work to help get the sequoias across the channel these trees would not have made it.
It’s a long way to Austria
Thursday July 18th
Charleroi, Belgium to Innsbruck, Austria – 810 km
Road construction sites, beautiful scenery, a three hour traffic delay, a pleasant dinner and finally we arrived in Innsbruck after 13 hours on the road. Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and finally Austria.
We stopped at the Austrian border and pulled a few trees out to show to give them their first look at their new homeland.
Spending some time on the original purpose of the trip
Friday July 19th
Innsbruck to Fugen, Austria – 55 km
We spent much of the day Friday preparing to take down and pack up Uta’s exhibition that was scheduled to close on the 20th. In the afternoon we drove to Fugen in the Zillertal valley and had the chance to relax a bit.
First tree handover
Saturday July 20th Fugen to Sillian, Austria – 180 km
In the morning we had a short drive to the Town Hall in Hart im Zilleratal where we met with the Mayor Daniel Schweinberger and Forest Ranger Michel Widner and Johann Eberharter. The forests above Hart were severely damaged by one of the windstorms. Many of the trees fell in to a deep gorge creating a dam that in turn created a major flood risk to the town. It required a major work effort to remove the fallen trees that was the subject of Uta’s work ‘Clearance’ that was the central piece in her exhibition. Nearly 200 of the trees will be planted in this area.
After unloading the trees we followed Johannes to his brother’s forest plot, which as you can see from the photo was decimated by a climate change related windstorm. If you have seen Uta’s work ‘Clearance’ you will recognize Johannes as the man working his way around the jumble of fallen trees hooking them up so they could be pulled from the gorge. We were there to help him plant 20 of the saplings, though to be honest our role was little more than keeping him company as he scrambled from one location to the next efficiently planting the saplings.
If you ever get the chance, I recommend you make this drive to the top of the Zillertal valley then down past Mattrei in Osttirol toward Lienz. It is a beautiful drive through the Alps but it will also remind you of the amount of damage the bark beetle can cause. South of Mattrei, If you take a short side trip towards Kals am Grossglockner you will see another example of the damage the extreme windstorms can cause.
Second tree handover
Sunday July 21st
Ausservillgraten to Innsbruck, Austria – 152 km
In the morning we met with Thomas Pitterle in Ausservillgraten. Thomas had grown up in the valley and had returned there after university. He and his team have been aggressively working to eradicate the bark beetle but have only been able to minimize the damage they are causing. He was instrumental in meeting with the forest land owners in the valley and getting them involved in the planting project.
Thomas had arranged for forest owner Peppe to take us to his forest plot and plant some of the saplings. Peppe had purchased some younger saplings from a source in Austria and was ecstatic to see the size and health of the saplings we had brought. We loaded Peppe’s share of the trees and he drove us up into the hills to his forest plot where we planted the first couple of his trees together. He proudly showed us what he called his ‘multi culti’ nursery where he was growing a variety of conifers from several different countries along with the saplings he had been prompted to buy while waiting for our project to come together.
Before leaving Ausservillgraten we drove up to the base of the local ski area and took a beautiful hike which provided 360 degree views of the beauty of the Austrian and Italian mountains. Looking at the forested hillsides with bare areas and large sections of bark beetle infestations were very sobering. Our 300 plus sequoia project had brought some excitement to the farmers and foresters we had met during the course of Uta’s Forest Complex project. We hope these trees grow strong and tall and lead to larger planting efforts in the future.
The long road back…one tree left
July 21 - 26
We returned to Innsbruck and spent two days taking down the exhibition and loading the van. Once again full, this time with art works we headed for London with a stopover in Brussels where Uta grew up.
We had still had one tree with us and had decided to plant it in the park where here Mom walks her dog a couple of times a day. We hope it does well.
Home again
In all we drove about 2000 miles on this trip. If we had been told that developing Uta’s Forest Complex exhibition would lead to meeting so many wonderful people who are so connected to the land they live on that it would inspire us to put together this planting project, I doubt we’d have believed them. But, on second thought, show us some mountains in need of reforestation and I’m sure we will give it some thought.