Approximately 500,000 hectares of forest in Czechia are potentially threatened by bark beetle infestation, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (see map, red areas).  To reforest these areas as quickly as possible after harvesting the infested wood the Ministry has eased the regulations for origins of forest plants.  Thus forest owner don’t have to stick to certain origins anymore and are more flexible in their choice of tree species. The aim is a quick reforestation with mixed forests. The spruce, which is hardly planted recently anyway, is excepted from this regulation.  By ...