AM ALPHA has been certified by Climate Partner once again - an important signal, both externally and internally, for management member Philipp La Rosée: "This certification has triggered a positive momentum for all of us - and paved the way for many new activities." AM ALPHA supports international projects and local initiatives such as "WaldLife Thurnstein", which aims to educate children about the unique beauty of local forests and their residents as part of free guided adventure tours. On the tours, children learn first-hand how essential forests are for the ecosystem. The forest becomes a living classroom where the learning materials can be observed, touched and experienced from close up. For Philipp La Rosée, a forest owner, it is a matter of the heart.
33% of Germany is made up of forests: an area of 11.4 million hectares, with over 90 billion trees. Although this sounds like a lot of wood, it is a very volatile system that is becoming unstable. Forest dieback is progressing massively. The consequences of climate change, such as droughts, storms and pests, are also becoming increasingly evident in Germany. According to the latest report on the condition of German forests by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, more trees are dying than ever before. "We therefore actively support structured reforestation and forest conversion measures in the region to increase the CO2 storage capacity of forests and make them more climate-resilient," explains Philipp La Rosée.
The forest – a varied ecosystem
In addition to the obvious ecological functions, such as maintaining the water balance, oxygen production, binding carbon dioxide, filtering dust and air pollutants, and noise and wind protection, the forest also fulfils important economic purposes, such as wood production, the extraction of medicinal plants, hunting and tourism. La Rosée: "We are not even aware of how many ways we, as human beings, benefit from the forest. If there were a greater understanding here, I am convinced we would treat our forests more carefully and sustainably." For this reason, the "WaldLife" initiative, which AM ALPHA supports, starts with the youngest to make a long-term impact.
The forest is our teacher
"At AM ALPHA, we agree that we have a responsibility to pass on our planet to future generations in a condition that is liveable," says La Rosée, a father of three children. "We also have the educational goal of teaching children from an early age how to deal with nature and giving them ecological awareness. WaldLife Thurnstein relies on the children's sense of adventure to discover the forest through play and to get to know and understand its ecosystem better."
WaldLife - an initiative of the Thurnstein forestry administration supported by AM ALPHA
The woodland habitat has all the ingredients you need for a real adventure like almost no other patch of nature. On "WaldLife", the forest discovery tours organised by the Thurnstein Forestry Administration, participants can discover the forest ecosystem with all their senses in a fun way and get to know and understand the forest and its inhabitants better. The programme includes discovering, climbing, touching, exploring, building, experimenting, and having fun together.
Beaver habitat Bachwiese
The so-called "Bachwiese" is located near the town of Pfarrkirchen. As part of the Thurnstein private forestry operation, this area includes old and young trees with a unique diversity of plant species. A special jewel in the meadow is the floodplain-like section of forest along the so-called Madelbach stream. This part of the site is considered particularly valuable from an ecological point of view and has been home to a particular animal species for some time now: the beaver.
In close cooperation with the forestry and nature conservation authorities, a separate protected area was created here in 2022, allowing the beavers to expand their dams and create undisturbed and specially protected refuges. This breathtaking transformation of the natural environment has created new habitats for numerous other animals and plants, turning the meadow into a thriving biotope and a true educational forest. On the guided forest adventure tours, visitors experience first-hand how man and nature can co-exist in harmony.
