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Uneavenaged Silviculture

International Meeting of IUFRO - Working Group on Silviculture of Non-Aged Forests

Valdivia (Chile) organized by the Universidad Austral de Chile - 11th to 18th November 2018

More than 50 participants from a total of 20 countries were given an in-depth insight into the international state of research on silviculture in forests of different ages.

The main topics were:

  • Ecological considerations on the transformation towards unequal age management (aspects of equlibirum models, natural disturbances, structure and dynamics, successions after fire in forests in Chile, Poland, Slovenia, Latvia and the USA)
  • Sustainable supply of goods and services (climate aspects, nature conservation, storm resilience and bird life in forests in Chile, USA, Slovenia)
  • Adaptation of forest management to new challenges (crown dynamics after thinning, plasticity of tree species after solar radiation, substructure or natural rejuvenation, mosaic and group strategies)
  • Control of stock density - ecological and economic conclusions (spatial distribution of selection trees, biomass distribution after felling, spatial irregularities, gap planting for enrichment, stocking control and competition)
  • Uneavenage forest management and social aspects (sustainable maple syrup production, conservation values, species diversity, 'bark beetle teaches structural forest', silviculture and ethics)

The listed topics of the English lectures appear familiar and can also be found in our "dictionary". From this you can see that the basic questions and topics are the same all over the world, independent of forest society and tree species.

President Eckart Senitza was briefly given the opportunity to introduce Pro Silva to the international scientific forum. There were enough opportunities to establish network contacts and also to meet many "old friends" from the Czech Republic (Pavel Bedár, Tomáš Vrška), Slovenia (Juij Diaci and his large group) and new contacts from the USA, Poland, UK and other countries.

The main organizer Pablo Donoso, forest lecturer at the Universidad Austral de Chile, organized together with his colleagues an afternoon excursion into a temperate Notofagus rainforest (water protection forest of Valdivia) and a varied post-conference tour:

The four-day trip led from the forest of former Göttingen professor Burkhard Müller-Using, who is still working tirelessly for his forest and the "Universidad de Concepción" at the age of 80, over the big lakes near Panguipulli, after a ferry crossing to Pirihueco, on to Argentina (St.Martin de los Andes). Impressive landscapes, similar to Norwegian Frjords, led over a strong precipitation gradient from lush forests into the steppe of Argentina. The Argentine colleagues presented Notofagus management models and natural forest areas, as well as genetic investigations. For us, completely foreign forest images with bamboo undergrowth and evergreen and leaf-throwing deciduous tree species offer many open questions. From the steppe back to Chile (Curarrehue) we were accompanied by volcanic landscapes with araucaria forests. These partly age-old trees take the role of the Zirbe and work there far more beautifully than with us in front gardens. The large seeds are sacred to the indigenous Maputches, also as food. At Pucon and Villaricca we could see a ski area just after the snow melt and the grandiose landscape between rain, fog and sun. Instead of melancholy, another week of individual travel with Pacific coasts, lakes, volcanoes and an "English" park landscape followed. A longing has remained to this day.

Eckart Senitza, 26.02.2019

Integrated forest management for resilience and sustainability across 25 countries

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