TEGELER FORST | tegel forest bath

North of Tegel airport there is a large forest, called Tegeler Forst in German.

Biking through the area, there are parts of the forest that feel rich and ancient and parts that feel like a tree farm.

Like many aspects of Berlin that on the surface feel strange, with a bit of research I found that the harvesting activities made sense.

At the end of the 2nd World War many of the forest areas in West Berlin, Tegel was in the West, disappeared. People living in West Berlin, being cut off from the rest of the country, cut down trees for firewood and in some places started small gardens for vegetables.

In the 1950s there were efforts to reforest planting “structured forests.” And at the time many non-native trees were planted.

From the 1990s, after the wall came down, the forestry mission changed and there is an effort to bring back a natural forest. While there is cutting, nature species are planted where non-native trees once stood.

The forestry mission is quite extensive and more details can be found on the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing site.