Zusammenfassung
Summary
Only in Thuringia and North Rhine-Westphalia it is possible to set up forest cooperatives due to special state laws in order to solve the structural problems in small private forests by means of cross-ownership management. This is because the forest cooperative is the joint owner of the plots belonging to it, while the individual cooperative members have ideal fractional ownership of the forest cooperative as such. The foundation of a new forest cooperative can be significantly supported by a land readjustment procedure according to the German land consolidation act (Flurbereinigungsgesetz, FlurbG). This concerns above all the legitimation of the property owners including the appointment of representatives for unknown or absent persons and the consolidation of the plots of land of the forest cooperative. As a pilot project, the article presents the first new foundation of a forest cooperative in combination with an accelerated land consolidation procedure.