Kirchhoff Group plants in the Sauerland and worldwide

The Kirchhoff Group plants 1785 trees for the forest of the future. 1785 trees at each of its locations worldwide. The plan is to have planted around 60,000 trees when the campaign is complete. The Kirchhoff Group has more than 50 plants on four continents. The big planting started in 2020, and the seedlings are already firmly rooted in the ground at the Sauerland sites in Iserlohn and Attendorn. They will grow, thrive and help shape the wooded landscape in the region.

The idea came from Prof. Thomas Kirchhoff, the Group's culture officer. For four years now, he has been organizing reading evenings, music events, concert and museum visits and other cultural events as part of the KIRCHHOFF Culture Life initiative, in which employees are actively involved. This year, a social project that focuses on climate change in general and forests under climate stress in particular was close to his and the company management's hearts. "Most scientists assume that climate change is man-made - even if some deny it. And with a tree planting campaign, we have a means of creating a man-made improvement in a simple but very direct way," he explains his motives.

The number of 1785 trees per planting site was chosen quite deliberately; it goes back to the founding year of the Iserlohn company Stephan Witten & Comp, the - let's call it that - original seed from which the Kirchhoff Group grew. Experts from the cities and regions helped and continue to help with the selection of locations and species, so that mixed forests well suited to the respective geography and weather conditions will grow upwards. In Iserlohn it was the city forester Julia Borghoff and in Attendorn Ludger Gabriel from the city administration, for both places the tree nursery Küch from Halver. Prof. Kirchhoff emphasizes that the local forest is very close to his heart. He can report on his own home town: "Iserlohn is the forest town. In our businesses in Iserlohn - as in Attendorn - people identify with their forest. We have chosen a very nice area here along the Frauenstuhlweg, which is very popular with walkers and offers a beautiful view of the city."

The tree-planting campaign was originally planned as a shared experience for employees, and many had already signed up. The coronavirus pandemic has put a damper on this plan. However, Prof. Thomas Kirchhoff assures us that it should definitely not stop at this one event. "I think our idea is already making waves, and I've heard that other institutions also want to join us in saving the forests."