Following the inaugaral session of CCFQT, Continuous Cover Forestry Question Time, chaired by Bill Mason and featuring Gareth Browning, Phil Morgan and Ben Walker, a recording has now been made available on YouTube which you can view using this link.
A chat file from the event can be viewed here.
CCFG will be hosting their next webinar – Regenerative Forestry
with Clive Thomas, Wednesday 21st February 2024 4-5pm
This online event is hosted by CCFG featuring Clive Thomas who will deliver a 30 minute presentation on this topic. This will be followed by a question and answer session for participants.
Join this webinar to hear more and discuss the Soil Association’s Regenerative Forestry report. This report and supporting evidence was developed to inform advocacy for an approach to forestry in the UK founded on goals of integration, resilience, restoration, engagement and reward. Download the report ahead of the webinar to learn more.
Regenerative Forestry Report (soilassociation.org)
Clive Thomas is Soil Association’s senior adviser for forestry, leading on regenerative forestry including the integration of trees and woodland management into farming systems, as well as policy development in response to voluntary carbon and natural capital markets. Clive is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and has worked in private and state forestry sectors during a 30+ year career managing forests and developing forest policy.
Continuous Cover Forestry Question Time – CCFQT
Please join us for our inaugural online CCF question time. Our Chair, Bill Mason, will be joined by a panel of foresters: Phil Morgan, Gareth Browning, and Ben Walker. The panel members will reply to questions about any aspect of CCF. The questions can either be provided in advance or posted during the session.
This is an experimental session; if it is successful we may hold more sessions in future.
Following the first webinar of the 2023-24 season, which was well attended on 26th October with up to 140 people participating, a recording has now been made available on YouTube which you can view using this link.
For more information you may also want to visit Arne’s website www.pommerening.org which includes details of his published books including a recent textbook on CCF. The chat from the webinar and questions included discussion of a recent paper published in Nature on the use of recycled wood:: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42499-6
This trail contains seven marked stops and has been designed for forest managers, owners, students and decision-makers to see the area and engage in a discussion about the adaptation actions being undertaken and insights from historical trials.
For more information on the trail please follow this link.
CCFG is organising this visit in the south-east of England to provide members the opportunity to observe and discuss the methods used and species mixtures in each stop, for example, forest structure changes after tending operations. Also due to the time of the visit Autumn – a winterish forest view which is very different than visiting the site during summer. The differences in weather conditions should assist our understanding of climate change in the area, and its impact on the management of trees of varied sizes and ages. Which is highly relevant under the current climate change situation; for example, in the area there is evidence that species like Oak now comes into leaf nearly a month earlier than it did in the 1950s (www.forestresearch.gov.uk).
Following the last webinar of the 2022-23 season, which was well attended on 29th June with up to 80 people participating, a recording has now been made available on YouTube which you can view using this link.
Dr Andrew Cameron, who presented it, has also made available the references he used at the end of the presentation, which you can view here.
For those wishing to go into full detail, the chat file from the Zoom meeting is also available here. As a note, Charlie Taylor was a forester on the Tay District for many years and was involved in the management, while Andrew Cameron and Aberdeen University were carrying out the experiment.
Pro Silva Annual Meeting – Ireland 2023 – press release
“Transforming European forests and forest cultures in a changing world”
Foresters from across Europe will convene in Ireland this week for the 2023 Annual Meeting of Pro Silva, the organisation which promotes close-to-nature-forest management (CTNF).
Starting on 14th June, this year’s conference will be hosted by Pro Silva Ireland with support from the Government of Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The three-day conference will focus on the theme of transforming forests and forest cultures in the rapidly changing world, highlighting the multiple benefits of CTNF for timber production and forest products, biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation, recreation and the provision of ecosystem services.
A range of forest types in County Wicklow will be visited as part of the conference, including native woodlands in Wicklow Mountains National Park, a young Sitka spruce plantation in Ballycullen undergoing transformation to a more diverse forest type, and mixed conifer forests in Cloragh and Knockrath that have been managed through CTNF for nearly 20 years. Ticknock Forest in County Dublin, a popular amenity which is being transformed to enhance its value for recreation and biodiversity will also be visited.
‘We’re at a crucial point in the evolution of sustainable forest management in Europe. Our forests are being subjected to multiple threats and challenges from the changing climate, the biodiversity crisis, increasing pests and diseases, lack of forest governance, forest abandonment, urban expansion to name just a few! Pro Silva members from 22 countries are looking forward to joining Pro Silva Ireland and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, as we strengthen our networks and share ideas on how to transform European forests in the changing world. In our 33 years of establishment, Pro Silva members are now busier than they’ve ever been! As the primary knowledge exchange hub for close-to-nature forest management, Pro Silva is now a key stakeholder in the development of forest policy in Europe, regularly working with the European Forest Institute, Forest Europe and the European Commission to help guide research, training and best practice in irregular silviculture. The increasing demands on our resources mean that we need to find ways to professionalise our organisation and maintain Pro Silva’s independent position on the promotion of close-to-nature forest management in Europe.’ Eckart Senitza, Chairman of Pro Silva.
Topics such as forest culture, research, education, training and practice will be explored by a range of speakers from UCD, Teagasc, Coillte, the Dublin Mountain Partnership and private sector foresters and ecologists with an interest in close-to-nature forest management. The conference will also host an in-forest panel discussion on the question “Can CCF serve industry, environment and people equally?”.
CTNF or continuous cover forestry (CCF) aims to retain a permanent forest cover while harvesting timber through regular thinning interventions, thus protecting forest soils, water and biodiversity. CCF aims to be both ecologically and economically sustainable as well as creating beautiful forests for people to enjoy.
Pro Silva is a European organisation which promotes close to nature forestry and continuous cover forest systems. It was established in 1989 in Slovenia. At present there are 22 full members of the organisation and there are also several other countries with associate membership. Since 2018 we have associated members from the United States (Forest Stewards Guild, New England Forestry Foundation), from India (ForEco India), from Brazil (ACEF St. Catarina), from Kosovo (CNVP), New Zealand (Tane’s Tree Trust) and IFSA International Forest Students Association and hopefully this marks the beginning of the formation of a global network. More than 6.100 professionals and forest owners are involved in Pro Silva.
Pro Silva promotes its principles and concepts through a Europe wide program of silvicultural education involving seminars and excursions. Increasingly the members are also involved as partners in national or international research and networking projects. A European network of best practice demonstration forests is being developed.
Pro Silva Ireland is a registered charity with almost 200 members, made up of foresters, landowners, ecologists and other interested individuals. The organization regularly runs field days and training events for those interested in learning more about close to nature forestry practices.
Twitter @ProSilvaIreland
Facebook @ProSilvaIreland
For interviews contact:
Olive Leavy: prosilva2023ire@gmail.com +353-83-8855070
Jonathan Hulson (Continuous Cover Forestry Group, UK): jhulson@europe.com +44 7501657913
Images can be downloaded here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1oydivqjm8ovt7l/AAAlTkmpO7gZ2PXxOlyqQEI1a?dl=0
CCFG will be hosting their next webinar – Developing permanent irregular forest structures: Lessons from Faskally Forest
with Andrew Cameron, Thursday 29th June 2023 4-5pm
This online event is hosted by CCFG featuring Andrew Cameron who will deliver a 30 minute presentation on this topic. This will be followed by a question and answer session for participants.
The Faskally Forest transformation was established in 1953 by Prof Mark Anderson of Edinburgh University with the aim of creating a permanent irregular forest based on European plenter stands. The original forest dates back to the early part of the twentieth century as a planted mixture of Norway spruce, Scots pine, European larch, Douglas fir, and European beech. At the start of the transformation in the 1950s, gaps created in the canopy were established using a combination of natural regeneration and planting of predominately shade/semi-shade-tolerant Douglas fir, Norway spruce, western hemlock, and European beech, and smaller proportions of shade-intolerant Scots pine, European larch, and silver birch. The study at this time was primarily viewed as a learning process to determine what does and does not work.
Records of the study from the early 1960s to the late 1980s are sparse, although some input into the area had taken place over this period. Increased interest in irregular forestry from the late 1980s saw a return to more intensive management of the site, and by the early 1990s the area was managed under the selection system.
A one hectare permanent sample plot was established in 1997 by the University of Aberdeen to study the latter stages of the transformation. Complete inventories of the sample plot were carried out at six year intervals starting in 1997 and subsequently in 2003, 2009, 2015, and 2021. In this seminar, Andrew will present an overview of the study spanning a period of almost 25 years. It will describe the development of stand structure and species composition and contrast a range of stand metrics with data from established Continental plenter forests.
Andrew Cameron is a senior lecturer in the Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. His career has spanned practical forest management, research, and education. His forest management experience started with the Forestry Commission at Cowal Forest District in Argyll before moving to North York Moors Forest District in North Yorkshire.
He returned to the University of Aberdeen in 1989 to lecture in silviculture and forest planning. His research interests include how wood properties are influenced by silviculture and genetic selection, transformations of even-aged stands into irregular structures, use of alternative productive species, and the impact of climate change on forests.
He has advised governments in Holyrood and Westminster on various aspects of forest policy. He produced a report for the COP26 conference in Glasgow in 2021 on the importance of productive forests in climate change mitigation and in reducing natural and semi-natural forest loss. He has recently made presentations at three Westminster Parliamentary committees on forest expansion and climate change. He has over 80 peer reviewed publications.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND YOU CAN BOOK YOUR TICKET HERE
Adapting silviculture to manage for adaptability
With Klaus Puettmann
Following our most recent successful webinar we have now made a recording available on YouTube for anyone that missed it or would like to revisit: VIEW NOW ON YOUTUBE
The presentation focuses on how silvicultural practices can be adapted to accommodate a more uncertain future. It starts with a brief discussion of the need to integrate variability when setting management goals. To show how this can be reflected in silvicultural practices, I then provide an example how thinning practices could be modified to allow for future flexibility, even if “surprises” happen.
Dr. Klaus J. Puettmann is Edmund Hayes Professor in Silviculture Alternatives in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. He worked as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota from 1992 to 2000 and since 2001 at Oregon State University. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and authored two books, many with a focus on adapting forests and foresters to deal with global change. He is an honorary member of the Italian Academy of Forest Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Forestry and Agriculture, a Bullard Fellow at Harvard Forest, and a Senior FRESCO Fellow at the University of Freiburg.
An Excursion in Kalebsburg Forest
With Hinrich Joost Bärwald
Dense regeneration in Kalebsburg Forest
Following our most recent successful webinar we have now made a recording available on YouTube for anyone that missed it or would like to revisit: VIEW NOW ON YOUTUBE
The following topics are discussed:
Our Guest forester from Germany is Hinrich Joost Bärwald
Hinrich manages 6,000 ha of privately owned forest in the north of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Germany) with an annual harvesting rate of ca. 30,000 cubic metres. He is the Chairman of the forestry association in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and also the Chairman of the ANW (nature based forest management) – Country group for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (www.anw-mv.de) and a board member of ANW (Germany). Hinrich is also managing director of the local forest management cooperative Behrenwalde Bad Doberan.
Our host Holger Weinauge owns Kalebsburg Forest, a 290 ha forest close to “Burg Schlitz” Castle, which he bought after the reunification of Germany. He also developed a close to nature certification system, which is based on the ANW rules in Germany. Holger also manages a 3,300 ha privately owned forest in the middle of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Germany) with an annual harvesting rate of ca. 10-15,000 cubic metres. He is a board member of the forestry association of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and managed the local forest management cooperative Waldverein Bansow.
To view the location of the forest, use this link
For more background reading on German forests, please use this link
