About the project


The “Trees for life” [Bäume fürs Leben] initiative aims to make a sustainable contribution to the climate through afforestation of forests in Germany. The project’s main target is to plant a total of 85,000 deciduous trees in reforestation areas so that new forests with a high level of diversity can grow. The person behind the “Trees for life” initiative is entrepreneur Paul Gauselmann. For his 85th birthday in 2019, he decided not to just talk about the important subject of the environment but to also make a contribution to climate protection himself. He donated 1,000 trees for each year of his life and thus kicked off the “Trees for life” project, which will benefit the afforestation and reforestation of forests.

“Nature has given me so much during my long life, whether that be as a counterbalance to my stressful working life or as a backdrop to numerous family gatherings. As the father of four sons, grandfather of nine grandchildren and great-grandfather of two great-grandchildren, with hopefully many more descendants, I want to do my bit towards passing on a liveable and sustainable world to future generations”, says the company founder.

With this project, we don't just want to set a marker – we also want to take the first tangible step toward more deciduous trees. And we are not alone in this! Our key partner “Trinkwasserwald e.V.” and many other supporters are helping us to put our plans into action. Follow us here on this page in our journey to more trees and an intact environment. Share in our progress, keep an eye on our planting dates and count along with us when our tree counter increases with each new planting campaign.

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Project Progress


The 85,000 trees will be planted over a period of three years. You can view the current project progress here.

Projects implemented

9

Number of trees planted

52216

Number of hectares planted

16

Additional litres of groundwater

877229

Projects


The 85,0000 trees will be planted in various projects throughout Germany. The reports on the planting campaigns that have been implemented are available here:

“Trees for life” initiative supports the town of Lichtenau with 4,000 young trees

A total of 4,000 trees were planted on a planting area in Lichtenau over the past few weeks.

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“Trees for life” initiative donates 4,000 saplings to the Wiesbaden Municipal Forest

4,000 young trees will be planted in the coming weeks in a planting area in Wiesbaden's municipal forest. The 15th campaign under the initiative was launched in Wiesbaden last week.

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3,800 saplings for Forstenrieder Park

3,800 young trees are currently being planted in the southwest area of the Eichelgarten in Forstenrieder Park in Munich. The reforestation in the Eichelgarten is the 14th campaign so far of the initiative of the entrepreneur from East Westphalia.

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‘Trees for life’ initiative makes a mark for a better environment

4,000 trees are being planted on an area in Münster-Nienberge. The first tree was symbolically planted to kick off the planting activities, and the other trees will be planted in January.

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Climate-resilient mixed forest for Bad Rothenfelde

4,000 young trees will be planted in the coming months on a planting area in Bad Rothenfelde. At the kick-off event, the first 100 trees were symbolically planted at the start of the campaign on the area in the spa town's forest.

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“Trees for life” in Borghorst

The eleventh project of the "Trees for Life" initiative took place in Borghorst at the beginning of November. The kick-off of the planting campaign, in which 10,000 trees are to be planted on a four-hectare area in Borghorst on the Buchenberg, began with a planting party.

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New mixed forest for Hannover Beinhorn

In the coming months, 4,000 trees will be planted in a planting area in Beinhorn, Hanover. The reforestation in Beinhorn is the tenth campaign to date of the private initiative of the entrepreneur from East Westphalia.

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Interim report on the “Trees for life” initiative of Paul Gauselmann:

One and a half years later, more than half of the donated trees, currently around 52,000 saplings, have been planted nationwide to date in cooperation with the partner Trinkwasserwald® e.V..

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Entrepreneur Paul Gauselmann donates 85,000 trees to combat climate change

8,000 sessile oaks were planted on a 1.5 hectare area damaged by the bark beetle in Taufkirchen in the Munich area.

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Afforestation at Schloss Benkhausen

At Schloss Benkhausen, the training center of the MERKUR GROUP, around 200 young trees were planted last week in the adjacent, company-owned forest area.

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Paul Gauselmann donates 7,000 trees for the ‘Aaper Wald’ municipal forest in Düsseldorf

Through the "Trees for Life" initiative, 7,000 trees and shrubs have now been planted in an area of the Aaper Forest to revitalize the tree population.

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Fruit tree tradition is being continued at Schloss Benkhausen

In the history of Benkhausen Castle, fruit tree orchards were operated as early as the beginning of the 19th century. To continue this tradition, Paul Gauselmann's granddaughter, Sonja Gauselmann, planted fruit trees at Benkhausen Castle.

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Germany-wide campaign will see 3,000 trees planted in the Stuttgart region

As the MERKUR GROUP itself operates a number of subsidiaries in Baden-Württemberg, it is now also actively supporting the reforestation of forests in the Stuttgart area: 3,000 trees will be planted on an area near Rutesheim by the end of 2020.

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Afforestation in the Wiehengebirge

On an area of 3.6 hectares, 10,000 beech and service trees will be planted in Nettelstedt by the end of the year. The reforestation in Nettelstedt already started at the beginning of the year, where 2,000 young trees have already been planted in the ground. In the coming planting period, the reforestation of a further 8,000 young trees will be carried out.

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Entrepreneur Paul Gauselmann donates 8,000 trees for the Dölauer Heide forest area

The Dölauer Heide forest area in Halle (Saale) is now benefiting from this commitment.

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8,000 red oaks will be planted in Magdeburg by the end of the year

On a planting area in Randau, 8,000 red oaks will be planted by the end of this year. On October 15, the first trees were symbolically planted at the start of the campaign in Magdeburg on the two-hectare site in Randau.

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Initiative of Paul Gauselmann supports Bielefeld municipal forest with 8,000 trees.

The Bielefeld municipal forest is now also benefiting from the "Trees for Life" initiative. To strengthen the forest, which was damaged by the heatwave summer and heavy storms, Paul Gauselmann contributed 20,000 euros to the fundraising campaign.

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Paul Gauselmann’s “Trees for life” campaign has been launched in Nettelstedt

A 3.6-hectare planting area in Nettelstedt was chosen to kick off the Germany-wide reforestation campaign. Planting of this area has now begun at the end of March.

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Paul Gauselmann donates 85,000 trees to combat climate change

Setting an example for a better environment. This is what entrepreneur Paul Gauselmann is doing with a spontaneous idea on the occasion of his 85th birthday on 26th of August.

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About Paul Gauselmann


Paul Gauselmann, who was born in Borghorst in Westphalia, is the founder of the family-owned company that beared his name until the renaming of the Gauselmann Group into MERKUR GROUP. What today is the MERKUR GROUP, with its MERKUR umbrella brand and laughing MERKUR sun logo grew from what was formerly a one-man business established in 1957. It is now an internationally operating corporate group with over 15,000 employees. In addition, Paul Gauselmann steered the fortunes of the entire vending machine industry in the VDAI (German Amusement and Vending Machine Industry Association) for 38 years, including 28 of these as Chairman of the Board.

Paul Gauselmann’s success story is meteoric. As a youngster, at the age of two, he was separated from his brothers and father. He experienced the horrors of the Second World War in Münster, finished school with the best results in his year and completed an apprenticeship as a telecommunications inspector. His fascination with American jukeboxes and the realisation that you could use them to earn money in the post-war period were what sparked his first business idea. More than 60 years ago, on 25 May 1957, he began installing jukeboxes as a sideline. The step to full entrepreneurial independence followed in 1964. The first gaming machine developed and produced by Paul Gauselmann himself was the “Merkur B”, which was brought to market over 40 years ago in 1977. In the meantime, having registered more than 300 patents, he has produced over two million gaming machines. Many development teams worldwide – from Australia to America – follow his visions. The invention of the modern arcade in the form of “Casino-Merkur-Spielothek” and the licence to supply gaming machines to casinos in Nevada were important milestones in his success story. To ensure a long-term, stable future for the corporate group, the patriarch transferred the MERKUR GROUP to a family foundation in 2016. Paul Gauselmann’s is outstanding due to his perfectionism, risk appetite, ambition, innovative mind, social commitment and the responsibility that he shows to his employees and to his family with four sons and nine grandchildren. He is the maker, while his wife Karin is the soul of the family and an advisor in the corporate group. An exemplary entrepreneurial career. A man who lives his passion.

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About Trinkwasserwald e.V.


Trinkwasserwald® e.V., a non-profit association for the protection of nature and the environment that was established in 1995, promotes the conservation, improvement and production of increased quantities of groundwater and drinking water. We promote location-appropriate silviculture so as to secure drinking water as a source of life for the long term. To achieve this, we plant heat-tolerant deciduous trees among selected coniferous monocultures in a targeted way throughout Germany. This increases the groundwater yield by 800,000 litres per hectare and per year, improves the climate and the condition of the forest and promotes biodiversity. A mixed forest with a location-appropriate mix of tree species also reduces the risk of climate extremes and ensures a more stable forest ecosystem.

To date, thanks to Trinkwasserwald® e.V. and the activities of association members, approximately 2,650 hectares of coniferous monocultures have been converted into “drinking water forests”, thus generating around 2.1 billion litres of additional groundwater. This quantity secures the drinking water requirements of over 2.1 million people (at a daily consumption of almost three litres of drinking water per person per day) – lifelong and across generations. Several tens of thousands of children and adults – in cooperation with the business sector, associations and politicians – took part in the necessary planting campaigns and were thus able to become actively involved in climate protection directly at a local level. In parallel with this, the association is active in impressing the value of nature on people through environmental education. Further information is available at www.trinkwasserwald.de

Further partners


Contact


Mario Hoffmeister

contact person press

MHoffmeister@Gauselmann.de

+49 5772 49-281

Nils Rullkötter

contact person project management

NRullkötter@Gauselmann.de

+49 5772 49-266