Integrate+

Loïc Duchamp, manager of the Réserve Naturelle Nationale des Rochers et Tourbières, and his team participated. Most of them are not foresters, but ecologists and biologists working on Natura 2000 projects, riparian f

orests and streams, wildlife and as reserve rangers.  The virtual tree selection exercises aims were e jointly agreed upon. The first set was related to the current management aims of the forest reserve. They were not fixed and allowed the participants to apply the underlying management aims for the stand based on their knowledge and expertise.

The second set aimed at increased harvest volumes to investigate the effects on the habitat value of the stand. For the “integrative management approach” habitat trees were selected while removing a moderate amount of the standing volume for trees having reached target diameter. The other scenario aimed at removing a higher amount of standing volume with emphasis on poorly formed trees and such having reached target diameter.

The participants acknowledged the interactive I+ tablet software as it allows individual tree selection and the creation of output files with all relevant exercise results.” This is unique to have the exercise results available at the push of a button directly in the stand”, one of the participants commented. The exercises also showed the participants that based on careful selection of trees for harvesting the impact on the habitat value of the stand remained very low.

“The catalogue of tree microhabitats is very useful for identifying habitat structures and will surely find use by personnel of the Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord”, said Loic Duchamp. “We will also look into organising further training events during 2016 and hope to visit the Freiburg City Forest Marteloscopes as well”, he continued.

Picture 1: Christophe and Jean-Claude performing a virtual tree selecting exercise in the Falkenberg M-scope using the I+ Tablet; Picture 2: Team members from the Réserve Naturelle Nationale des Rochers et Tourbière discussing their tree selection.