Integrate+

1) Close to nature forestry and tree microhabitat richness (09.09.2016)
A marteloscope training exercise was organised at the State Forest Ettenheim, Germany for communal and state foresters from Baden Württemberg who apply close to nature principles. They were interested in learning how to increase the amount of tree microhabitats, in particular in forests where management focusses on timber production.

Photo: Andreas Schuck

2) Exchange of Experts visit to the ‘Rosskopf’ Marteloscope in Freiburg City Forest (11.10.2016)
Loïc Duchamp from the Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord and Nicolas Dericbourg from the Office national des forêts are in charge of the Marteloscope 'Falkenberg' in the northern Vosges mountains of France. The visited the Marteloscope ‘Rosskopf’ in the Freiburg City Forest to exchange experiences on good practice for organising training events. Questions like what type of events, how to set up exercises and what type of excursions may best complement such training were at the focus of discussions.

3) Decision making in multi-purpose forests (15.10.2016)
A training for forestry students was organised in the Sihlwald near the City of Zurich, Switzerland jointly with the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences. Aim of the training was to improve silvicultural decision making in a multi-purpose forest. Sihlwald forest is located in an important water catchment area close to Zürich and is a prime recreation area. The Marteloscope ‘Sihlwald’ was used for students to practice and discuss management decisions under such challenging conditions.

4) Exchange of Experts Czech Republic - Germany (Bavaria) on conversion from spruce monoculture to continuous cover forestry (11 – 15.11.2016)
The Czech Republic is in the process of converting even aged, spruce/pine monocultures to more stable and resilient forest management systems. Integrate+ facilitated and organised an exchange to different forest locations within Bavaria including for example the City Forest of Bamberg and the Castell Forest Enterprise.

5) Hungarian delegation visits Marteloscope Steinkreuz (17.11.2016)
A visit was conducted to the Marteloscope ‘Steinkreuz’ in the course of a Natura 2000 excursion by a Hungarian delegation to Bavaria. The around 30 participants were introduced to Marteloscopes as tools to better understand management effects on biodiversity relevant structures in managed forest and in Natura 2000 sites.

Photo: Daniel Kraus

6) ‘Wald und Holz NRW’ expresses interest to join the Integrate+ partner network (29.11.2016)
Integrate+ was invited by representatives of the Regional Forest District Office ‘Rhein-Sieg-Erft’ and the ‘Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Conservation and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany due to their strong interest to join the Integrate+ network. Especially the establishment of two Marteloscopes in the ‘Rhein-Sieg-Erft’ District was highlighted. Integrate+ will provide expert guidance and support in the course of setting up the Marteloscopes.