Forestry administrative reform in Germany: In the case of state Baden Wuerttemberg

The German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg is renowned for its thriving forest industry. The state forestry- administration has been under the control of Department of State Forest Administration, 4 regional forestry offices and 163 district forestry offices since 1900. The forestry administration had continued over the past approximately 100 years based on two major characteristics: this system had a special status as an independent government body that could make decisions for any issue independently and another one was the integrated district forestry office system. The integrated district forestry office system was the mechanism through which the district forestry offices administer and manage state and community forests and provided guidance, advice and the like regarding private forests. However, reforms in forestry administration were implemented as part of the state government's administrative reforms that were passed on January 1, 2005. Through these reforms, the aforementioned special government offices were scrapped and the state's district forestry offices were also eliminated, thus putting an end to the historic integrated district forestry office system. The district forestry offices were replaced by 35 counties and 9 special cities (cities treated as counties) which have assumed the functions of the former, integrated district forestry offices. However, questions remain regarding the number of functions these counties and special cities will take over and perform. In addition, since the administrative reforms were pushed through the state legislature with a general disregard for the intentions of state forest officers and many forestry officials have been left with a strong sense of dissatisfaction. The state's forestry administration has reached the ultimate in chaos and concerns are growing regarding the direction of this administration as a result of the administrative reforms. This paper aims to shed light on the details of the forestry administrative reforms and addresses the basic characteristics of the administrative reforms.