Is the spruce part of the natural forest in southern and eastern Westphalia?

The spruce grows in North Rhine-Westphalia to approximately 252000 hectares of forest area and dominates especially in the montane areas. Hurricane-induced forest damage, especially the montane spruce populations, led to a rethinking of forest use plans. Above all, one relies on more stable mixed forests almost without the participation of spruce, because it is no longer considered suitable for location. But is this assumption correct? This thesis examines the question of whether spruce has been a natural part of the North Rhine-Westphalian forests since the end of the last cold period – the Vistula Cold Period ended about 12000 years ago today. The answer to this question can only be historically proven. Pollen analyses describe the forest composition of the past. Other parts of trees are rarely preserved in bogs or sediments, and their finds are hardly statistically evaluable.