The Wild Forest is located in Hamburg, in the Mitte district, on the Elbe island of Wilhelmsburg. The area belongs to the city of Hamburg and covers almost 10 hectares, which is equivalent to 14 football pitches! The pioneer forest, which resembles a riparian forest, has been growing undisturbed and wild for over 60 years and is currently transforming into a forest containing different species of broadleaf trees¹. It is located in the middle of the city and is a popular local recreation area.

Forty different tree species grow here, including poplars, willows, alders, birches, ash trees and, slowly but surely, small oaks and maples. There is also a clearing with natural meadows, lots of undergrowth, broken and dead wood, providing habitats for numerous plants and animals, including many cave dwellers such as woodpeckers, blackcaps, starlings and bats, as well as water birds such as kingfishers and grey herons.

Endangered and specially protected species:

• Birds such as willow warblers, icterine warblers, garden warblers, moorhens and sparrowhawks.
• 4 endangered bat species.
• Common toads and pond frogs.
• 16 protected dragonfly species.

The forest started growing after the storm surge of 1962; previously, the area had been home to allotments. Due to the housing shortage after the Second World War, many people lived there, mostly in temporary huts. During the night of 16 to 17 February 1962, the dams broke, including the one directly at Spreehafen north of the allotments. The area was flooded, and many people died in the water or froze to death on roofs and trees. The Great Flood continues to shape the history of the city of Hamburg to this day, with the area of today’s Wild Forest having been hit particularly hard. Afterwards, there was a long period of uncertainty about what to do with the area, as no one dared to build there. This is how the Wild Forest came into being. Foundation walls and paved paths can still be found today under the thicket of blackberries.

Forests in large cities are very important for

• climate protection: they regulate the local microclimate and they lower CO₂ levels.
• species protection: they provide a habitat for millions of plants, animals and fungi.
• health protection: they filter harbour pollution from the air, buffer industrial noise and cool the adjacent residential areas. Hot summers in large cities are increasingly having health consequences, even fatal ones. Old trees cool their surroundings by up to 10°C in summer. In addition, forests offer residents the opportunity to relax in nature. Spending time in nature has been proven to reduce the effects of typical stress-related illnesses. What’s more, forests mitigate the effects of increasing heavy rainfall, thereby reducing the risk of flooding.
• Education: Children need natural spaces to learn directly in, from and with them, especially in cities and for sustainable environmental education.

1. Broadleaf trees are the standard trees you think of, that don’t grow conifers, so oaks and birches for example, but not fir trees. ↩︎