This increased considerably during the lockdown.
At times, there were queues waiting to get access to the Bambësch car parks. While it has quietened down this summer, it is clear that state authorities and municipalities have to consider the effects of so-called societal pressure on local forests.
The role of municipal forests is primarily to serve residents. At the same time, it should be kept as naturally as possible, explains the city's forest ranger. The forest administration maintains the forest for the proprietor, i.e. Luxembourg City, avoiding the use of heavy machinery. Where possible, they use horses, for instance to mow along the paths, using a machine that does not harm insects. This is a much more gentle form of forest management, explains Oliver Breger, one of two foresters from the Forest Administration looking after the city's forests.
His work has a positive effect on the environment, says the horseman, whose draft horses are also employed in many other forests around the country. There is much less destruction using horses, they can work on narrow paths and help remove trees.
His colleague François Lefieux used to work on the sea, with mussels and oysters. He moved to Luxembourg from the Mont Saint-Michel. Forest management is much better here than in France, he says.
Of course it is much more pleasant to meet draft horses on your walk than a noisy tractor. Elégant and Rio, two Percherons, work around eight hours a day.
The pressure on urban forests these days is intense, and they never come to rest. The Forestry Administration relies on prevention rather than repression in the human interaction with nature.
As a forestry expert, Olivier Breger says it is important to maintain greenery in an urban environment, for instance to allow animals to move from one neighbourhood to the next. Old and tall trees also help cool the city.
In terms of trail development, Breger confirms that no new paths have been developed since the mid 70s. The tendency is rather towards reduction. There is no such thing as "forest motorways", he says.
