Cathedral Foundation Forestry Office
Seelensdorf Forestry Office administers and cultivates the 1,800 ha of wooded lands belonging to the Cathedral Foundation, on which mostly pine trees grow. The Forestry Office earns a large part of its income through the production of industrial timber in the Cathedral’s own sawmill. Further commercial enterprises include cultivation, the sale of Christmas trees and the production of firewood. The hunting ground, which comprises the entire forest area, has been leased.
The Forestry Office: Facts and Figures
Total surface area:
1800 ha, consisting of 1400 ha pine trees and 80 ha each of beech trees, oaks, larks, birches and Douglas firs.
Production:
4500 m3 chopped wood, 450 m3 cut timber, 190 m3 firewood, 2291 m3 shavings and 1400 ‘bulk-mass metres’ of woodchips (figures from April 2008)
Field trip to forestry facility (photo: Forestry Office)
Harvester at work: sustainable timber harvesting as a basis for economic success (photo: Forestry Office).
Seelensdorf Forest Cemetery
Seelensdorf Forest Cemetery is a place in which the deceased are laid to rest in keeping with Christian values. People are increasingly seeking the organic setting offered by a forest cemetery for their final resting-place. The cemetery is located in an unspoilt forest. The prospect of securing a long-term burial plot means that forest cemeteries are attracting an increasing amount of interest.
Seelensdorf Forest Cemetery offers a solution to those looking for a final resting-place in a forest with a conscious Christian character. The more sparsely wooded area of 20 ha is wooded with mountain oaks, intermingled with individual birch trees and small groups of pine trees. Only cremation urns are interred in the forest cemetery. As Seelensdorf is a Christian cemetery, every grave is given a name plate, which is attached to the corresponding tree. The burial plots are situated in an oak forest, whose natural character is due to remain intact. Grave maintenance, decoration and candles are therefore not necessary in Seelensdorf Forest Cemetery, nor are they permitted.
Seelensdorf Forest Cemetery is located in Havelland, around 20 kilometres north of the town of Brandenburg.
Further information: www.waldfriedhof-seelensdorf.de
Who to contact
Head of Cathedral Foundation Forestry Office: Friedrich Hinz
Domstiftsforstamt Seelensdorf
Seelensdorf Nr. 12
14798 Havelsee/OT Seelensdorf
T: 033834/50214
F: 033834/50201
forstamt@dom-brandenburg.de