# Your earmarked donation „Harz“ will be used for refore­sta­tion to create climate-tolerant and species-rich deciduous mixed forest through the planting of broad­leaf trees

Since 2017, drought and bark beetle infesta­tion have caused the death of more than 900,000 hectares of woodland nation­wide – mostly non-native and monos­truc­tured conifer forests – as shown by the satel­lite data from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) published in September 2025. Until now, the assump­tion had been 500,000 hectares of damaged area.

Forest damage hotspot Harz

Today, the Harz is one of Germany’s most severely affected forest regions. Large stands of non-native spruce have not withs­tood the extreme periods of drought in recent years. On around 21,000 hectares, two thirds of the spruce have now died. Although new areas are reforested every year, this is only a small start in relation to the scale of the damage. Many areas have also been comple­tely cleared to contain the bark beetle and prevent fires — leaving behind unpro­tected soil exposed to sun, wind and rain. Wind erosion, loss of humus and drying out are now threa­tening the soil’s water-reten­tion capacity and desta­bi­li­sing the green water cycle. It is there­fore all the more urgent to reforest quickly.

Refore­sta­tion thanks to donations

For several years now, our associa­tion has been supporting fores­ters in replan­ting the hotspot areas in the northern Harz near the Grane­tal­sperre reser­voir, in the southern Harz near the reser­voir by Neustadt, as well as near Werni­ge­rode and Ilsen­burg, with site-appro­priate deciduous tree species. Thanks to numerous donations, many thousands of deciduous trees have already been planted. On numerous hectares of damaged area, the founda­tion has thus been laid for climate-resilient and future-proof mixed deciduous forests — forests that will provide future genera­tions not only with timber, but also water, biodi­ver­sity and fertile soils.

But the work is far from done. Many areas are still waiting to be reforested, and at least once a year we are on site to reforest damaged areas in the Harz together with many supporters.

It is especi­ally important to us to involve school classes as well. After all, the future of these forests concerns the younger genera­tion in parti­cular. During planting activi­ties, pupils experi­ence first-hand what forests mean in the context of climate change — and why it is so valuable to support close-to-nature forest conver­sion and thus climate-resilient forest ecosys­tems. Accom­panying environ­mental educa­tion makes it clear that we need not only timber, but also fertile soils, clean water and biodi­ver­sity. The bare slopes in the Harz are an impres­sive place of learning that moves people and prompts reflec­tion.

Your donation helps create species-rich forests in the Harz and enables young people to take respon­si­bi­lity today for the forest of tomorrow.

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More about our donation needs:

Your support helps!

It helps promote climate-resilient mixed broad­leaf forests, an improved ground­water recharge rate, biodi­ver­sity and a sustainable society.

Regular donations give the associa­tion planning security, the oppor­tu­nity to tackle even large environ­mental protec­tion projects and to build up specia­list staff for this purpose. Important for good engage­ment for forest and water.

Especi­ally for larger donations, we ask you to transfer your donation directly, and thus free of fees for us.

For a donation by bank transfer, please use our donation account at

Kreis­spar­kasse Soltau

IBAN: DE42258516600000595959

BIC: NOLADE21SOL

Please state „Spende“ as the payment reference or the corre­spon­ding project you would like to support, as well as your address for the donation receipt. Thank you for your support!

With your donation, you support in accordance with our association’s purpose the planting of broad­leaf trees in order to promote mixed broad­leaf forests, ground­water recharge, biodi­ver­sity and a sustainable society. With your donation, we select suitable damaged areas, conclude agree­ments with landow­ners to ensure the ecolo­gical objec­tives, prepare the areas, order the planting material, plant, provide wildlife protec­tion, carry out monito­ring of the areas, involve young and old as well as ecology and economy in our environ­mental protec­tion actions, create aware­ness through environ­mental educa­tion, promote dialogue between a wide range of interest groups, pay salaries and carry out the legally required adminis­tra­tive work. We appre­ciate every donation. If you dedicate your contri­bu­tion to a specific purpose, we will endea­vour to use it accor­dingly. Should this no longer be possible or neces­sary, your donation will go to other statu­tory purposes of the associa­tion Trinkwasserwald e.V. We thank you since­rely for your under­stan­ding.

Tax-deduc­tible donations

Donations to Trinkwasserwald e.V. are tax-deduc­tible.
All cash and in-kind donations to the non-profit environ­mental protec­tion associa­tion Trinkwasserwald e.V. are tax-deduc­tible under Section 10b of the Income Tax Act, up to the amount eligible for donation deduc­tions.
Trinkwasserwald e.V. is recog­nised as a non-profit organi­sa­tion by the Hamburg Nord tax office.

Cash and in-kind donations from compa­nies to Trinkwasserwald e.V. can be claimed as special expenses at the tax office up to 20 per cent of total income or up to 4 per mille of total turnover plus the wages and salaries paid in the calendar year, and can there­fore be deducted from tax.

Cash and in-kind donations up to a value of EUR 300 can be submitted to the tax office without a donation receipt and by bank state­ment. For this simpli­fied proof of donation (§ 50 para. 2 no. 2 letter b EStDV), an additional document showing the details of the recipient of the donation must also be enclosed. You can download the form for simpli­fied proof of a donation to Trinkwasserwald e.V. here.

Donations and in-kind donations with a value of more than EUR 300 must be verified by means of a donation receipt issued by the recipient of the donation. That is why the non-profit environ­mental protec­tion associa­tion Trinkwasserwald e.V. sends all supporters whose indivi­dual donation exceeds EUR 300 a donation receipt to be submitted to their local tax office. This confirms that the cash or in-kind donation is used for a tax-privi­leged purpose within the meaning of §§ 51 ff. AO. To receive a donation receipt or confir­ma­tion of donation, the supporters’ contact details must be stated in the payment reference.

Further hotspots

  • #Hotspots

    Broad­leaf trees for the climate

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