ConForest

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Past Events

ConForest Working Session 7

Olomouc, Czech Republic
19 - 21 May, 2008

Hosted by: Forestry and Game Management Research Institute

Local Co-ordinator:	Dr Marian Slodičak
Local Contact:	slodicak@vulhmop.cz

General Co-ordinator:	Stuart Dedrick
Contact:	stuart.dedrick@iww.uni-freiburg.de

Files (members only):

Minutes
Conference Book

ConForest Reports:

Conforest Activities

ConForest Working Session 6

Poland
15-17 April , 2007

Host: August Cieszkowski Agricultural University of Poznan, Poland

Local Co-ordinator:	Dr Maciej Skorupski
Local Contact:	maskorup@owl.au.poznan.pl

General Co-ordinator:	Stuart Dedrick
Contact:	stuart.dedrick@iww.uni-freiburg.de

Further information:	http://www.au.poznan.pl/conforest/

Files (all: members only!):

Minutes

ConForest Reports:

Conforest Activities
ROKFOR
Working Session Agenda 12-04-07 final

Working Group Reports:

WG2
WG3
WG4
WG5
WG6
WG8

1 Invasion of Beech:

Ammer: Converting Norway Spruce
Balcar/Kacalec: Beech Poster
Balcar/Kacalec: Beech Presentation
Barbu: Present State
Bartos et al.: Beech Plugs Poster
Bartos et al.: Beech Plugs Presentation
Kacalek: History Poster
Kacalek: History Presentation
Novak/Slodicak: Beech Litter Poster
Soucek/Silhanek: Shelterwood Poster
Soucek/Silhanek: Shelterwood Presentation
Spulak: Regeneration Poster
Spulak: Natural Regeneration Presentation
Sterba:Invasion of Beech Presentation

2 Soil and Water:

Berger: Introduction Presentation
Berger: Litter Decompensation Presentation
Biba et al.: Water Regime Poster
Dissolved Organic Carbon Poster
Kulhavy: Ca and Mg Presentation
Malek: Nutrient Fluxes Presentation
Novak: Litter-Fall Presentation
Oceanska: Long-term investigation Presentation
Stealens: Forest Type Effect Presentation

3 Storm Damage:

Dedrick: Strorm Introductory Presentation
Deleuze: Lothar France Presentation
Klimo/Kirill: Czech Republic Presentation
Kohnle: Lothar Presentation
Slodicak/Novak: Storm Damage
Slodicak/Novak: Storm Damage CZ 2007
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ConForest Working Session 5

Evora, Portugal
8th – 10th October, 2006

“Towards sustainability – forest conversion”

Background
This working session was the fifth in the second phase of ConForest, and was designed to further disseminate the knowledge and research acquired within the working groups, moving the Project Centre forward from the Freiburg workshop in May 2006.
The conference “Towards sustainability – forest conversion” brought together scientists from all over Europe to discuss the relative merits of plantation forestry and converting forests to more natural structures.

Topics
It is generally acknowledged that the multifunctional management of forest is one of the principal challenges to modern forestry. Forestry systems produce, besides wood, an uncountable amount of jointly produced outputs that are public goods or quasi-public goods or externalities. The demand for these new public goods and services adds to that of the traditional forest products, leading to an increasing pressure on the use of forest resources. The greatest challenge, in the future, is to find policies to reconcile these conflicts.

Discussion focused on the main 5 topics:

Multi-purpose management
Management of multi-purpose stands and forests brings new challenges in which regards to indicators and descriptors of structure and their dynamics, spatial distribution, growth, regeneration as well as silvicultural and operational practices. The development of tools that enable the better knowledge of the stands and forests will be able to point to the more suitable management solutions toward a sustainability and diversity.

Integration of different scales in forest inventories
Forest inventories enable the assessment and evaluation of the forest and stands distribution as well as the forest products quality (wood, bark and fruit). In forest inventories three levels can be considered, namely national, regional and local or stand level. The objectives of each inventory depend on the scale used and their integration should define the parameters and adapt the methods to monitor the conversion process.

Landscape fragmentation and diversity
An integrated analysis of diversity at different scales (a and b diversity) through assessment and monitoring will allow its better understanding and can improve the evaluation of the conversion success. The parameters selected to evaluate diversity should allow the improvement of stand composition, structure, spatial distribution, site characteristics and fauna in order to develop management tools which enhance the system resilience.

Site productivity enhancement
Site productivity depends on their maintenance and/or improvement. The analysis of nutrients stock and fluxes, element cycling, soil physical conditions, biological activity, soil and water conservation, carbon balance as well as the development of tools at stand and forest level along with their interactions with the stand and forest composition and structure, will enhance the improvement of site characteristics towards a sustainable management.

Economics of forest multi-functionality
The value of multifunctional forest lies not only in its wood, bark and fruit production, but also in its contribution to landscape, global warming preventing, land preserving, CO2 fixation, natural hazards protection, biodiversity, water resources fostering and so on. The different forest systems must be analysed in a holistic approach, considering all market and non-market goods and services produced and, on their social, environmental, and economic impact at local and national level.

More details; all: members only

Posters:

Kacálek, Balcar: Conversion (European beech)
Klimo: NSSoil
Slodicak, Novak: canopy reduction (Scots pine)
Slodicak, Novak: canopy management 1(Scots pine)
Slodicak, Novak: canopy management 2(Norway spruce)
Soucek: Diameter increment(Norway spruce)
Sterba: Large Scale Inventory Designs
Vospernik, Sterba: Stem quality

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Conforest Working Session 4
Freiburg i. Breisgau, 24th May 2006

This working session was the fourth in the second phase of ConForest, and was designed to further disseminate the knowledge and research acquired within the working groups, moving the Project Centre forward from the Stift Schlägl workshop in October 2005.
It was open to all members of ConForest.
If you are not a member of ConForest and wish to find out more about the Project Centre, you will find more details on this website, or contact Stuart Dedrick.

Files

Working Session - Minutes (Members only)
Working Session - Agenda (Members only)

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Plantation or Conversion – The Debate!
Freiburg i. Breisgau, 21st – 23rd May 2006

The conference “Plantation or Conversion – The Debate!” brought together scientists from all over Europe to discuss the relative merits of plantation forestry and converting forests to more natural structures. It comprised of scientists from ConForest, and the IEFC. Both ConForest (The question of CONversion of coniferous FORESTs on sites naturally dominated by broadleaves for sustainable fulfilment of society’s needs) and the IEFC (Institut Européen de la Forêt Cultivée) are Project Centres (PC’s) who operate under the auspices of the European Forest Institute (EFI). ConForest now has some 70 actively participating scientists from 32 institutions from 17 countries, each researching various aspects of the effects of converting even-aged and even-structured coniferous forests into uneven-structured and mixed stands. The areas of research include stand structure, inventories, conversion techniques, biodiversity, soil and water, as well as economical evaluations. The IEFC, whose headquarters are in Bordeaux, researches the value of production through the use of plantation forests, and has 27 member institutes. The 6 research groups are Models, Economics and politics, Genetics, Forest health, Soils and Silviculture and products.

The two Project Centres dealt with the evaluation of forests for sustainability, though clearly, under opposite principles. It is the common theme to which the PC’s are researching, i.e. that of continuing the production of high quality forest products and services, which will be highlighted in the discussion. This created a forum, where the validation of key parameters common to both themes could be tested.
The topics open for debate were:
Forest Production
Biodiversity
Inventories
Soil and Water
Forest Health
Economics
This was the first time that two of the EFI’s project centres came together in this way, and we expected the audience to contain many knowledgeable and well respected scientists from the field of plantation and forest conversion science. For more information, please contact: Stuart Dedrick.

Files (all: Members only!):