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1785 trees for the forest of the future planted by the Kirchhoff Group. 1785 trees at each of its locations worldwide. The plan is to have planted around 60,000 trees by the time the campaign is completed. The Kirchhoff Group includes more than 50 plants on four continents. The big planting campaign began in 2020, and the saplings are already firmly rooted in the ground at the Sauerland locations in Iserlohn and Attendorn. They will grow, thrive and help shape the region's wooded landscape.
The idea came from Prof. Thomas Kirchhoff, the Group's cultural officer. For four years now, he has been organizing reading evenings, musical events, concert and museum visits and other cultural events within the KIRCHHOFF Culture Life initiative, in which employees are actively involved. This year, he and the company's management had a social project close to their hearts that focused on climate change in general and forests under climate stress in particular. "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 says, explaining his motivations.
The number of 1785 trees per planting site was chosen quite deliberately; it goes back to the founding year of the Iserlohn company Stephan Witte & Comp, the - let's call it that - original seed from which the Kirchhoff Group grew. Experts from the cities and areas helped and still help in the selection of sites 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. For his own hometown, he can report: "Iserlohn is, after all, the forest city. In our operations in Iserlohn - as in Attendorn - people identify with their forest. We chose a very nice area here along the Frauenstuhlweg, which is very well used by walkers and offers a beautiful view of the city."
The tree planting event was also originally planned as a shared experience for employees, and a great many had already signed up. The Corona pandemic put a damper on this plan. But it should by no means remain with this one action, assures Prof. Thomas Kirchhoff. "I think our idea is already making waves, and I'm getting word that other institutions want to join in saving the forests."