Following the second webinar of the 2023-24 season on 23rd November, with Gary Kerr, a recording has now been made available on YouTube which you can view using this link. 

CCFG will be hosting their next webinar – How can silvicultural systems help adapt forests to climate change? 

with Gary Kerr, Thursday 23rd November 2023 4-5pm

This online event is hosted by CCFG featuring Gary Kerr who will deliver a 30 minute presentation on this topic. This will be followed by a question and answer session for participants. 

The talk will describe the main silvicultural systems we can use to manage forests and give a personal view about their application in Britain. In addition, the talk will give a summary of a the main risks to forests from climate change, the possible impacts and the evidence base for how the use of continuous cover can help mitigate these risks. Finally, the talk will consider how best to communicate ‘how to do continuous cover’ to new audiences. Along the way Gary will be asking the audience some questions, so have a paper and pen handy and be honest with yourself when the answers are revealed!

 

Gary was the Principal Silviculturist for Forest Research until September 23. The main thrust of his work has been applied silvicultural research and this has led to over 50 papers in peer reviewed journals, 16 Forestry Commission publications and over 50 articles in professional publications communicating the results of research. For the last ten years his work has focussed on alternative approaches to management and continuous cover silviculture. He was the Editor-in-Chief of Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, published by Oxford University Press for 20 years. After retiring from Forest Research he divides his time between working as the Commissioning Editor for the Quarterly Journal of Forestry, Chairing the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forest Institute and continuing his association with FR as a Research Fellow.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND YOU CAN BOOK YOUR TICKET HERE

CCFG will be hosting their next webinar – Coppice, Carbon and Catastrophes: The Joy and Pain of Managing for CCF in Our Times

with Arne Pommerening, Thursday 26th October 2023 4-5pm

This online event is hosted by CCFG featuring Arne Pommerening who will deliver a 30 minute presentation on this topic. This will be followed by a question and answer session for participants. 

Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF), i.e. forest management based on ecological principles, has been introduced to Ireland and the UK more than twenty years ago. Whilst in the early days identifying simple and robust methods of transforming plantations to woodlands with more complex structures were the primary concern, ongoing climate change and the recent energy crisis have added new challenges of managing for CCF. Many policymakers including the authors of the recent EU forest strategy and of associated recommendations proposed by the European Forest Institute see CCF as a major instrument for mitigating adverse effects of climate change. In this context, carbon forestry has become a major buzzword and a research field in its own right, however, it is still largely unknown how exactly existing woodlands should be managed for optimising carbon sequestration. Questions like “Is carbon forestry part of or a concept separate from CCF?” or “Can carbon forestry be carried out along with other management objectives or is a special focus required?” are hotly debated. Ongoing climate change and all its localised realisations such as spontaneous gales, droughts, floods and insect calamities can always bring the sudden end to any CCF woodland that we have transformed for many years with great effort. In that situation we may be left with little more than bare ground and methods are needed to establish new CCF woodlands from scratch. CCF from scratch may also include the use of coppice systems, particularly the use of coppice with standards and coppice selection systems. Such system can contribute to satisfying the current demand for sustainable energy whilst creating diverse habitats and providing high-quality timber at the same time.

Arne Pommerening is a professor at the Department of Forest Ecology and Management of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) at Umeå in Northern Sweden. For more than 20 years he has taught CCF to university classes in the UK, Switzerland and Sweden. Whilst working at Bangor University in Wales between 2000 and 2011, he contributed to the introduction of CCF in the UK and offered seminars in Ireland. Arne has recently published a textbook entitled “Continuous Cover Forestry – Theories, Concepts and Implementation” and he is currently involved in the introduction of CCF to Sweden.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND YOU CAN BOOK YOUR TICKET HERE

 

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. 

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

CCFG will be hosting their next webinar – An expedition through Kalebsburg Forest

with Hinrich Bärwald, Thursday 23rd March 2023, 2pm – 3pm

This online event is hosted by CCFG featuring Hinrich Bärwald who will deliver a 30 minute presentation on this topic. This will be followed by a question and answer session for participants.

For our first ever live event from a forest, we will walk through Kalebsberg Forest with the owner Mr. Holger Weinauge. Hinrich Bärwald will accompany him with his iPhone.

The following topics will be discussed:

• • • Privatization after reunification
    • Consistent conversion to permanent forestry
    • Measures for effective hunting
    • Silvicultural measures to prepare for climate change
    • AFI plot and marteloscopes
    • Forestry certificate based on the ANW principles (permanent forest)

 

Our Guest forester from Germany who will lead the day 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

 

A long-term study of transformation to CCF in Sitka spruce in Ireland
With Ted Wilson

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

There is growing interest in the wider adoption of continuous cover forestry (CCF) in Ireland. This is linked strongly to woodland owner preferences for closer-to-nature forest management, climate adaptation policy and wider societal drivers for functionally diverse woodlands that deliver multiple ecosystem services. The key technical and professional challenge is the transformation of productive Sitka spruce plantations. To address this issue, a research project was initiated in 2010 by University College Dublin (UCD) which established the first long-term study in early-stage stand transformation that compared three types of thinning regime, low (conventional) thinning, crown thinning and graduated density thinning. The latter two represent “transformation pathways” with potential for application on a range of sites. The research has been sustained through the LISS project (2010-2014), TranSSFor Project (2017-2022) and the ContinuFor project (2022-2027). Partners include UCD, Maynooth University and Teagasc. Parallel to the research programme has been an extensive series of training and knowledge transfer courses and events, much of which is delivered in partnership with Pro Silva Ireland. In this presentation, Ted will present an overview of the study, some preliminary results and demonstrate the links between applied research and training.

Edward (Ted) Wilson Biography

Edward (Ted) Wilson is a silviculturist who specialises in the sustainability, resilience and conservation of temperate and boreal forests. His career has been multi-faceted, with roles in forest management, public policy, research and education. He has worked in Canada, the UK and Ireland, and held posts with several organisations, including the Canadian Forest Service, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, UK Forestry Commission, the Royal Forestry Society and Teagasc. He has delivered projects in more than 15 countries. Ted’s research interests are in the areas of tree biology, woodland establishment and silvicultural systems, especially continuous cover forestry (CCF). His current focus is the transformation of even-aged Sitka spruce stands to irregular structure forests. Working closely with colleagues in several organisations, he delivers an ongoing series of workshops and courses on CCF, especially tree marking, biodiversity conservation and management. Ted is adjunct professor of silviculture at the Institute of Forestry and Conservation, University of Toronto, is a Technical Member of the Society of Irish Foresters, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

Wilson, E. R., I. Short and Á. Ní Dhubháin. 2023. A long-term study of transformation to CCF in Sitka spruce in Ireland. Webinar. Continuous Cover Forestry Group. 23 February 2023.

 

Please contact Polly at administrator@ccfg.org.uk if you have any questions.

CCFG will be hosting their next webinar – A long-term study of transformation to CCF in Sitka spruce in Ireland

with Ted Wilson, Thursday 23rd February 23, 4pm – 5pm

This online event is hosted by CCFG featuring Ted Wilson who will deliver a 30 minute presentation on this topic. This will be followed by a question and answer session for participants.

There is growing interest in the wider adoption of continuous cover forestry (CCF) in Ireland. This is linked strongly to woodland owner preferences for closer-to-nature forest management, climate adaptation policy and wider societal drivers for functionally diverse woodlands that deliver multiple ecosystem services. The key technical and professional challenge is the transformation of productive Sitka spruce plantations. To address this issue, a research project was initiated in 2010 by University College Dublin (UCD) which established the first long-term study in early-stage stand transformation that compared three types of thinning regime, low (conventional) thinning, crown thinning and graduated density thinning. The latter two represent “transformation pathways” with potential for application on a range of sites. The research has been sustained through the LISS project (2010-2014), TranSSFor Project (2017-2022) and the ContinuFor project (2022-2027). Partners include UCD, Maynooth University and Teagasc. Parallel to the research programme has been an extensive series of training and knowledge transfer courses and events, much of which is delivered in partnership with Pro Silva Ireland. In this presentation, Ted will present an overview of the study, some preliminary results and demonstrate the links between applied research and training.

Biography

Edward (Ted) Wilson is a silviculturist who specialises in the sustainability, resilience and conservation of temperate and boreal forests. His career has been multi-faceted, with roles in forest management, public policy, research and education. He has worked in Canada, the UK and Ireland, and held posts with several organisations, including the Canadian Forest Service, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, UK Forestry Commission, the Royal Forestry Society and Teagasc. He has delivered projects in more than 15 countries. Ted’s research interests are in the areas of tree biology, woodland establishment and silvicultural systems, especially continuous cover forestry (CCF). His current focus is the transformation of even-aged Sitka spruce stands to irregular structure forests. Working closely with colleagues in several organisations, he delivers an ongoing series of workshops and courses on CCF, especially tree marking, biodiversity conservation and management. Ted is adjunct professor of silviculture at the Institute of Forestry and Conservation, University of Toronto, is a Technical Member of the Society of Irish Foresters, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

Wilson, E. R., I. Short and Á. Ní Dhubháin. 2023. A long-term study of transformation to CCF in Sitka spruce in Ireland. Webinar. Continuous Cover Forestry Group. 23 February 2023.

Continuous Cover past present and future. Is it time to make more noise?
With Dr Alec Dauncey

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

Where are we up to in promoting Continuous Cover approaches? Greater use of Continuous Cover, or closer to nature methods, has been ‘on the agenda’ for about thirty years. Encouraging greater use of CCF has been part of the policies of governments around the UK and is part of the UK Forestry Standard and UK Woodland Assurance Standard. But has there been enough adoption of it, for the good of the resilience and ecosystem services from UK forests? What can we do?

Alec Dauncey Biography

Alec is a Lecturer at Bangor University having completed a PhD in British 20th Century forestry policy in 2016. Founder member of CCFG and participant in various ProSilva meetings and tours in the 1990s. Forest District manager in Wales implementing CCF in forest design plans. Worked as a Special Adviser to Welsh Government Ministers seeking to increase use of CCF in Wales in 2002. Defra UK/England and international Forestry Policy 2003-2008. 

Please contact Michelle at administrator@ccfg.org.uk if you have any questions.

CCFG will be hosting their next webinar – Wind Stability and Irregular Forest Stand Structures

with Barry Gardiner Thursday 27th October 4pm – 5pm

This online event is hosted by CCFG featuring Barry Gardiner who will deliver a 30 minute presentation on this topic. This will be followed by a question and answer session for participants.

Barry Gardiner Biography

Barry Gardiner is a senior researcher at the Institut Européen de la Forêt Cultivée (IEFC) in France, a researcher at the University of Freiburg, German, and an honorary research fellow at Forest Research. He has a particular interest in different abiotic risks to forests. His research focus has been primarily on wind and snow damage to forests, and he developed a forest wind/snow risk model that has been adapted for use in many countries. From 1987 to 2011 he worked at Forest Research in Scotland on wind risk to forests and the influence of forest management on timber quality. From 2011 to 2015 he worked as a Senior Scientist at INRA Bordeaux on a 4-year scientific package entitled “Wind Damage to Forests in a Changing Climate: Impacts and Mitigation” and from 2016 to 2019 he worked as a senior researcher at the EFI Planted Forests Facility. He currently is working on various projects focused on multiple risks to forests and how to incorporate risk management into forest management practice. He is Associate Editor of Annals of Forest Science and Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, and Coordinator of IUFRO Group 8.03.06 “Impact of wind on forests”. He is an author on more than 100 scientific papers and has edited 3 books. He was awarded Docteur Honoris Causa de l’Université Laval de Québec in June 2016.