Once again, in April, the Bosgroepen organised a training day for holders of the FSC and PEFC group certificates. During the morning session, Etiënne Thomassen (representing LIFE Climate Forest) gave a presentation on vital forests, and during the afternoon session, participants visited the demonstration forest at Landgoed Pijnenburg.

Before the excursion, Martijn Bergen from Bosgroep Midden-Nederland gave a brief explanation: “We are working with Staatsbosbeheer in Utrecht on a mini-LIFE Climate Forest. For this, we have set up very small plots of 5 hectares at three locations with three of our members – including Landgoed Pijnenburg – to roll out everything we are collectively learning in the area of climate adaptation and forest vitality. We have placed some grids here and done some forest tracking.”

“Bostracken is a method where you look at your forest a bit more intensely, from bottom to top, assessing various qualities – simply put. You look much more at all aspects in the forest. From the herb layer, shrub layer, regeneration patches, habitat trees, dead trees… you also designate areas for ageing cores, your OAD network of old and decaying trees, and you mark spots where you want to regenerate and plant. We’ve rolled this out and during the guided tour, we’ll look on-site at what exactly we’ve done.”

Following the extensive, highly enthusiastic guided tour in the forest, attendees bid farewell to Debora Fiers as FSC/PEFC group manager and as an active partner (Bosgroep Noord-Oost Nederland) of LIFE Climate Forest.