Climate change has us firmly in its grip and is taking an increasing toll on our native forests. That’s why we want to help. We’ve launched a project to support forests in Germany.

In 2021, we put out feelers and searched for a damaged patch of forest we could take care of. And we found one! After a long search, many conversations and calls for help, we found our future wijld forest. Covering over 81,000 m², this still rather barren forest area in the Sauerland near Marsberg is just waiting to be planted and restored to nature!

And that’s where you come in: this heartfelt project can only succeed if we work together, and every order on wijld.com helps protect a little piece of forest. For each order, we’ll restore and care for exactly 0.6 m² of forest, with the aim of creating a healthy woodland one day. This won’t be easy; it’s a real challenge. Creating a healthy ecosystem takes a lot of planning, time, and patience. For an area of 8.1 hectares, we’re currently planning to plant around 10,500 trees. The number may vary a little, depending on how many large and small tree species we need for a well-balanced mixed forest. Before planting, we also need to carefully assess which primary and secondary tree species are suitable for the site and will benefit nature and the environment most in the long term.

But just imagining that our forest, once it has grown big and strong, could absorb up to 81 tonnes of CO₂ every year fills us with joy and motivates us to get planting!

It is particularly important to us that everyone can actively get involved and witness the progress of our reforestation and restoration efforts. That’s why we want to give anyone interested, including school classes and forestry students, the opportunity to follow Waldemar’s creation from the very beginning and help shape our project.

However, our forest in the Sauerland is just the first of many forests we want to protect. Our long-term goal is to save as many forest areas as possible that have been affected by the climate crisis and destroyed by environmental damage. That’s also why we came up with the idea of speeding up our work through forest sponsorships and with your help—not only protecting the first 8.1 hectares of forest for the future, but also acquiring and restoring more areas as quickly as possible. After all, together we can always achieve more.

Did you know that the term “sustainability” comes from forestry? In the early 18th century, growing timber shortages across regions led to the development of modern forestry, replacing the uncontrolled exploitation of forests that had prevailed until then. The basic idea behind sustainable forestry can therefore be summed up as follows: only as much wood should be used as can naturally grow back. Sustainable forestry also ensures that newly planted trees do not form monocultures, which are more vulnerable to pests, damage the soil, and deprive animals of their habitats.

But how can we plant trees while also using wood for things like clothing? At first, this may seem contradictory, but it makes much more sense once you understand the background:

Processing trees is actually right and important. At their peak, trees produce oxygen, provide habitats, and absorb CO₂. With trees grown in sustainable forestry, the main goal is to make optimal use of the CO₂ stored in them, which is why they are harvested only after many years. If this did not happen, many of them would die from lack of light or fungal infections, among other things, then decompose and release the carbon they had stored back into the air. Harvested trees therefore provide long-term CO₂ storage and are also perfectly suited for use as an environmentally friendly material in a wide range of applications.