“We welcome Mercer’s initiative because it is a clear commitment to enter a partnership with forest owners—and to do so over a very long period of time—to address the severity of the bark beetle damage in the German forests hit hardest,” says Philip von Oldershausen, Managing Director of HOFOS GmbH.
Oldershausen leads HOFOS in managing privately owned forests in six different federal states across Germany, including Saxony Anhalt. HOFOS has worked with Mercer Holz for many years as a wood supplier but this year, a different partnership begins. On April 25, 2023, HOFOS joined Mercer, the mayor of Schierke and the forest ranger for the area, in planting trees in the Harz, kicking off Growing Forests—Growing a Future, a multi-year programme to do their part in reforesting areas lost to the bark beetle epidemic that is ravaging Europe.
