High up in the Styrian hills of Austria, at Wegscheid’s Living Lab where spruce crowns shimmer like scales in shifting light, a quiet transformation is underway. It began with a growing realization: forests can be managed and vibrantly alive at the same time.
How it all began: A forest rethinks its future
The Austrian Federal Forests had long recognized their responsibility as caretakers of some of the country’s most precious natural areas. This commitment continuous today, extending not only to the management of protected areas but also to the integration of conservation ideas and guidelines into the management of commercially used forest across the country. Gradually, approximately half of the forest districts have now been equipped with an Ecological Landscape Management concept, ensuring that biodiversity is increasingly woven into everyday forest operations.
The Ecological Landscape Management isn’t just an add-on. It became a new way of thinking: forest plans now include not only economic but also ecological data, every decade-long operational plan accounts for habitats, and every stand is seen through the dual lens of use and nature conservation.
This same shift lies at the heart of TRANSFORMIT’s mission of Integrated Forest Management.
And so, when a Living Lab was to be established in Austria, the choice felt obvious: the 8,155-hectare forest district of Wegscheid. A region where the four pillars of Ecological Landscape Management, namely conservation and renaturation, habitat connectivity, process protection, and a conservation areas register are already invented.
The TRANSFORMIT Living Lab would focus on one of these pillars: creating a net of habitat stepping stones through the forest for specific umbrella-species.
A defining moment: When crisis becomes catalyst
If there is a single snapshot that captures the spirit of Wegscheid, it may be the moment local foresters walked through stands devastated by bark beetles. Spruce – when planted decades ago outside its natural range – often had fallen victim to increasing temperatures, drought, storms, and pests. The landscape partly looked raw, wounded. Yet instead of discouragement, something else took root: determination.
Foresters, researchers, and partners understood that this painful transformation was also an opportunity. As bark beetle outbreaks now slowly decline, conversations in Wegscheid have shifted. How can forests be rebuilt to withstand climate change? How can biodiversity become the foundation of resilience?
In that moment, the spirit of the Living Lab crystallized: experimenting boldly, learning continuously, and working together for forests that can face an uncertain future.
The heart of the Living Lab
Imagine a woodpecker. A black woodpecker perhaps, or a three-toed one, flying across a patchwork of forest stands. Not every piece of forest is equally suitable as a habitat for the bird. Some are young, some uniform, some still healing from storms or bark beetle attacks. What this bird needs is a network of stepping stones: pockets rich in habitat trees, deadwood, shelter, and food.
In 2022, foresters in Wegscheid began mapping exactly that. Around 512 hectares were selected as habitat connectivity stepping stones: old stands, naturally regenerating patches, areas rich in deadwood and microhabitats. Across these areas, management was redesigned:
- No clear-cuts
- Multi-stage interventions instead of single harvests
- Habitat trees retained
- Deadwood deliberately left to decay
- Forest edges shaped in gentle, irregular forms
- Regeneration encouraged with ecologically valuable tree species
The goal? To ensure that woodpeckers, and with them countless other species, find suitable habitats and can move safely and thrive across the forest landscape via these “stepping stones”.
From science to practice
As part of TRANSFORMIT, three Marteloscope training sites were created. These sites give stakeholders a hands-on way to experience forest decision-making:
- A mature stepping-stone stand, rich in habitats for woodpeckers
- A naturally regenerated, yet unmanaged stand full of tree diversity
- A young spruce stand, marked by heavy bark peeling damage; an honest reflection of the challenges the region faces
Visitors stepping into these Marteloscopes literally walk into the questions the Living Lab is trying to answer.
Working in the Wegscheid Living Lab is many things at once
Working in the Wegscheid Living Lab is an experience shaped by contrasts. On the one hand, it is deeply experimental: new methods are tested directly in real forest stands, where every decision has visible consequences. At the same time, it is fundamentally community-driven, bringing together foresters, scientists, and local stakeholders who learn from each other and share responsibility for the landscape they shape. The work can be challenging, especially in an environment marked by extreme weather events, past calamities, and the legacy of outdated stand structures. Yet it is also profoundly inspiring. Every habitat tree that remains standing, every piece of deadwood deliberately left to decay, and every young, diverse stand growing toward maturity symbolizes a step toward greater resilience. Above all, the Living Lab is a place where hope meets pragmatism. A space where vision and hands-on action come together.
What changes do we expect?
Within the TRANSFORMIT framework, the Wegscheid Living Lab examines how effectively the concept of habitat-connectivity stepping stones can be implemented under real-world conditions. It explores where challenges emerge during this process, how these ecologically valuable areas can be secured and maintained over the long term, and how integrated forest management can move from theory into daily practice. The findings from Wegscheid are intended to do more than support local decision-making; they will contribute to a broader mission. By generating evidence-based insights and practical principles, the Living Lab helps pave the way for scaling up Integrated Forest Management across Europe and supports the ambitious goals embedded in current EU forest and biodiversity policies.
TRANSFORMIT aims to support the goals of the EU Green Deal, the Biodiversity Strategy, and the EU Forest Strategy 2030. The lessons from Wegscheid (on connectivity, resilience, and the integration of conservation into forest use) will help shape these European ambitions.
Because in the end, the story of Wegscheid is not just a local one. It is part of a much larger narrative: learning how forests can adapt, recover, and thrive, while still providing the resources and services society depends on.
And in a quiet corner of Styria, the forest is beginning to show how IFM can foster biodiversity at the same time – a small but promising step.
