26 July 2024
ContinuFOR Project highlighted at IUFRO 2024 Congress
Dr Grace Jones of Teagasc tells of her positive experience when presenting her work undertaken as part of the ContinuFor project at a recent IUFRO international congress in Stockholm, Sweden.
ContinuFOR is a collaborative project focusing on the transformation of Sitka spruce forests to Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF), with emphasis on the synergies and trade-offs involved. It is a four-year collaboration between University College Dublin, Teagasc Forestry Development Department, and Maynooth University, working alongside key stakeholders.
The International Union of Forestry Research Organisations (IUFRO) hosts an International congress every five years, with this year’s week-long Stockholm congress having over 4,200 registered attendees representing a wide range of countries and organisations.
New Zealand native Dr Grace Jones, postdoctoral researcher in the Teagasc Forestry Department, presented data from her work on the two ContinuFOR project trial sites, and questions and feedback were surprisingly positive for first thing Friday morning.
The DAFM-funded ContinuFOR project is researching the transformation of Sitka spruce rotational forest stands to a continuous cover forestry management system. It incorporates multidisciplinary research including studies of forest development, financial performance, social aspects and biodiversity considerations.
The forest stands Grace is monitoring have three thinning treatments: Low – the industry standard; Crown – competitors of selected trees are removed; Graduated Density Thinning (GDT) where trees are selectively removed in a way that varies the density of the remaining stand. The data she presented showed the difference in volumes of thinnings and log grades for each treatment.
This was a great opportunity to share progress with an international audience, but also to learn from others, through active networking and engagement. The Friday morning continuous cover forestry (CCF) session was hosted by Professor Arne Pommerang from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Professor Áine Ní Dhubháin from UCD, ContinuFOR project co-ordinator. Others in the session described similar experiences during their long-term trials, and it was fantastic to see how CCF is being applied internationally, from Norway to USA, and many places in between.
Friday afternoon also featured a ContinuFOR presentation by our Maynooth University partners, with PhD candidate Laura Harris (pictured below) presenting her work on natural regeneration as part of the ContinuFOR project. The session was hosted by project partner Dr John Devaney, and it was great to see another diverse group of countries and experiences being presented. Some of the issues arising were similar to those in Ireland, with many interesting questions and comments being raised during the sessions.
Excursions
There were excursions on the Wednesday to visit the Swedish forests and wood industries. The Digitisation of Forest Technologies session showed companies using digital technologies, often utilising GIS, for estimating machine driveability on different terrains, predicting bark beetle outbreaks (a serious issue in parts of continental Europe) or to identify areas offering high biodiversity potential. This excursion ended with a look at an autonomous drone that can avoid trees when flying between them, and a harvester and forwarder operating in Swedish conditions. Other excursions showed experiences with ungulate grazing or visited the technological museum of Stockholm.
Researchers show a patch of deadwood identifiable from remote sensing data, to indicate high biodiversity values, but also a bark beetle trap. GIS data is being used to help predict areas of bark beetle attack, to hopefully intervene before an attack.
Excursion participants watch a thinning machine in operation on a beautiful sunny summer day. The operators have high resolution digital information about the sites and are able to receive updated maps each day for the following day’s work.
Best post award
Grace won a ‘Best poster award’ for a poster she presented that illustrated the work carried out by Charlotte Egman for her B.Sc. thesis at Linneaus University. Charlotte’s project and thesis (written in Swedish) was co-supervised by Grace and Dr Erika Olofsson, and surveyed Sweden’s hardwood sawmills. While the project results are due to be published shortly, the poster was an effective way to share results with attendees and receive feedback.
Overall, it was a busy week for Grace, who alongside meeting many new faces, also caught up with colleagues from New Zealand, Sweden and Ireland. The IUFRO Congress proved to be a great opportunity for knowledge sharing, collaboration and learning.
Information on the ContinuFor, and a range of other projects, is available here.