For a number of years now a field tour to Germany has been organised for the benefit of British foresters and forestry students.
The tour is dedicated to the study of woodland management on an environmental basis as part of sustainable land use. Sustainable land use has received a major impetus since the United Nations Commission on Economic Development (UNCED) summit at Rio in 1992. The new definition states that forest resources and forest land should be sustainably managed to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations (United Nations, 2001). Consequently alternative forms of woodland management have been introduced to the United Kingdom for which various terms have been coined such as continuous cover forestry and near-natural forestry.
These alternative forms of woodland management have been practiced for generations in Germany. Northern Germany is of specific interest with regards to British interests because of the similarity of the site conditions. The tour programmes highlight a detailed study of the growth and ecological processes involved whilst providing a vision and demonstrating techniques that can be taken home.The 2007 (30th March – 6th April) tour programme included:
- The management of mixed and uneven-aged stands along the German North sea coast in a particularly windy climate, afforestation of former agricultural land with mixed broadleaves/conifers (Schleswig-Holstein),
- Regeneration of mixed stands on poor sandy soils under a first generation Scots pine canopy, underplanting of oak and beech under Scots pine canopy, management of valuable Douglas fir woodlands (Lower Saxony: Lüneburg Heathlands),
- The management of mixed ash-sycamore-beech, Norway spruce-beech and oak-beech woodlands (Lower Saxony: Göttinger Wald, Solling, Harz mountains),
- Grazing experiments, restoration of ancient wood pastures, wildlife management involving the re-introduction of the lynx,
- Restoration of ancient woodland sites,
- Half a day of lectures on the topics of the tour by specialists from the University of Göttingen,
- Practical information on individual tree silviculture including tree marking for thinnings and the frame tree method; training in silvicultural systems,
- Identification and discussion of soils and ground vegetation,
- Identification of trees and vascular plants, the role of indicator species.
- The 2007 study was co-organised and hosted by the Forestry Services of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holsten, the University of Göttingen and the directors of the Forestry Research Stations of Lower Saxony.
Details of next years tour will appear early in 2008.
For more information please
contact:
Dr
Arne Pommerening
