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Author: amschuck

Diversification of forest management systems in Ireland

Using marteloscope sites for educating on new approaches

A large number of private forests in Ireland are less than 30 years of age and many are approaching thinning stage. There is now greater need for owners to understand and control the thinning process in order to realise the full value of their forests as part of a sustainable management approach. This is imperative if a sustained level of timber mobilisation is to be achieved from private forests. There is also a growing demand, coming from forest owners, for diversification of management systems to complement the current clear fell-replant system. Recent developments in European and national forestry policy are directed at promoting integrated management as a means of enhancing forest resilience in the face of climate disruption, sustaining forest production and delivering diverse ecosystem services. These new systems, known as Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF), enable commercial timber harvesting while retaining a forest cover in the long term.

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Schools’ Reaction to Fridays for Future: “Green Campus Day” in Freiburg

by Sonja Mewes

The Fridays for Future movement has received not only a lot of attention but also support in our University Town of Freiburg in the south of Germany. This led the Montessori School ANGELL in Freiburg – where I am teaching – to reflect on how to channel this energy of the students to engage and work on concrete projects related to climate change and environment.
In this context, the Montessori Zentrum ANGELL decided to launch an initiative called ‘The Green Campus Day’ on November 15th, 2019. Our teachers suggested a range of projects in the area of climate change, biodiversity, waste reduction and upcycling. We selected all these projects on the basis that our students would learn about their contributions to reduce their carbon footprint, their impact on biodiversity and waste reduction. It was up to the students to select a project of their choice. The age of the students in our group ranged from 12 to 18 years.

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Discussions of economic impacts and long-term benefits of Integrated Forest Management

French forest professionals visit forest enterprise in Germany

Within European Forest Institute, we frequently organize Exchange of Experts (EoE) to share knowledge on integrative forest management concepts. With foresters from the French Office National des Forêts, we recently co-organised and participated in an EoE addressing nature conservation managers, forest contractors and representatives from local municipalities. In a two-day excursion event they were introduced to the integrative forest management concept applied in the Bavarian State Forest Enterprise of Ebrach, Germany.

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Irish Marteloscopes: learning from each other’s experiences

A workshop took place at the Agriculture and Food Development Authority (Teagasc), Oak Park, Carlow in Ireland mid-February 2019 to allow for a professional exchange on how Marteloscopes are used for training and education. Around 15 workshop participants representing Teagasc, Coillte, the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine (DAFM), the Irregular Silviculture Network (ISN) and EFI discussed the potential for cooperation involving both new Irish Marteloscopes sites and those of the existing Marteloscope network.

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Einmal Förster sein: Sind Marteloskope für die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit geeignet?

Von Klaus Striepen

Das Netzwerk der Marteloskope in Europa wächst immer weiter und damit auch die Ideen für deren Einsatzmöglichkeiten. Im Rahmen des europäischen LIFE+ Naturschutzprojektes „Villewälder“ wurde erstmals eine Übung für Bonner Bürgerinnen und Bürger durchgeführt. Diese wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit der Volkshochschule Bonn (Adult Education Center) organisiert. Die Veranstaltung fand bei wunderbarem Frühlingswetter am ersten Aprilwochenende 2019 im Marteloskop Jägerhäuschen statt, einem Eichenmischwald im Waldgebiet Kottenforst nahe der Großstadt Bonn. Die Betreuung der Teilnehmer erfolgte durch die Mitarbeiter des LIFE+ Projektes, Klaus Striepen vom Regionalforstamt Rhein-Sieg-Erft und Peter Tröltzsch von der Biologischen Station Bonn/ Rhein-Erft.

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Discussions on impacts of silvicultural interventions: the Falkenberg Marteloscope

from Andreas Schuck and Loic Duchamp
In the beautiful autumn forest in Vosges du Nord – Forêt de Bitche, France, we organized a training session with 44 foresters from public and private forests on 18th and 19th of October 2018. The Marteloscope ‘Falkenberg’ was set up in the course of European Forest Institute’s Integrate+ project, and it is located on state forest land in a Nature Reserve, in the heart of the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park (French part of the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Vosges du Nord–Pfälzerwald). 60%, or 76.283 ha of the park are covered by forest, composed of 58% broadleaves and 42% conifers.
One main conservation objective in that nature reserve is to increase forest naturalness. This is achieved by designating strictly protected areas and preserving or restoring forest composition and potential habitats in managed forests.

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Buchpräsentation: Das Trittsteinkonzept – Naturschutz-integrative Waldbewirtschaftung schützt die Vielfalt der Waldarten

Das Thema Waldnaturschutz spaltet Waldschützer und Waldnutzer. Dabei sollten gerade diese an einem Strang ziehen und im Interesse der Waldökologie zusammenarbeiten. Es reicht nicht aus, 5% der Waldfläche Deutschlands aus der Nutzung zu nehmen. Schutzmaßnahmen für unsere Waldarten müssen auch auf den restlichen 95% gewährleistet werden. Das sogenannte ‘Trittsteinkonzept’ ist dafür ein guter Weg –  und die Elemente des Konzepts lassen sich in allen Wäldern umsetzen.

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