The honey bee is an important factor in the forest cycle: as a pollinating insect for many plants and as a prey animal for other forest dwellers. Honey bees in the forest are therefore a prerequisite for its healthy survival. When forest beekeeping was abandoned years ago, this, together with other harmful environmental influences, led to a threatening thinning out and impoverishment of the forest flora and fauna, especially in the already pest-prone pure forests.An ecological reorganization of the forest fauna, which includes the reintroduction of honey bees in the forest, would thus lead to the re-emergence of healthy forest life, according to the conviction of the author, himself an experienced beekeeper and committed conservationist.