“It’s the exchange of experience in many different ways – to learn from each other, and even to build friendships,” reflects Johannes Shima, Deputy Director General of the Forest Section at Austria’s Ministry for Agriculture. That is the promise of the Integrate Network: a place where forests become the classroom and countries learn together. It’s...
Tag: nature conservation
Waldlabor – A forest laboratory for experimental research, discovery and education
It’s a misty Tuesday afternoon in June at the ETH Hönggerberg Campus in Zurich. Participants of our Swiss Integrate Network workshop have geared up in waterproof clothes and are ready for a few more hours of outdoor fun at the so-called “Waldlabor” – a unique forest area on the outskirts of the city. Diverse learning...
Ecoparks: Can protection, production and recreation coexist?
What makes ecoparks special? Swedish ecoparks are unique for their large, contiguous landscapes where ecological values are prioritized, often exceeding 50% of the area dedicated to nature conservation. They also include older forests than most of Sveaskog’s forest landscapes: 52% of forests in ecoparks are over a century old, while only 15% of forests outside...
Interactive learning experience for students in the “Mooswald” Marteloscope in Freiburg
On Friday, 11th of April – right before the Easter break – Sabine Vogelgesang’s biology class did not meet for an ordinary lesson in the classroom. Instead, the 12 students and their teacher met up with Andreas Schuck, senior researcher at the European Forest Institute, at the Mooswald forest located in the City Forest of Freiburg. There...
Balancing forestry and biodiversity conservation: “It’s important to showcase how things can work”
“We have the need to improve biodiversity on every scale”, says Dr. Frank Krumm, researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research and co-editor of the book How to balance forestry and biodiversity conservation: A view across Europe (2020). “This is what we know from research. It’s one of our tasks. But we also...
REGISTER NOW: Integrate Workshop – Increasing biodiversity to promote adaptation and resilience of European forests by using close-to-nature forestry
2.–4. June 2025 l Zurich, Switzerland Are you curious to learn more about the application of close-to-nature forest management in Switzerland and beyond? Do you want to discuss silvicultural concepts that can support forests in becoming more resilient to future disturbances and extreme climatic events? Our workshop aims to bring together diverse networks, including the...
7 Jahre Marteloskope in NRW: Erfahrungen aus der Praxis
Ein Artikel von Carolin Stiehl aus dem Jahresbericht 2023 des Zentrum für Wald und Holzwirtschaft. Lesen Sie den ganzen Jahresbericht 2023 hier.
New research on tree-related microhabitats in Europe
Tree-related Microhabitats (TreMs) are crucial for biodiversity since they host thousands of species. TreMs are discrete habitat patches borne by trees and cover a wide range of lifespans, from days to decades to centuries. The taxa associated with such discrete and sometimes highly temporary habitat patches are likely to be sensitive to spatial distribution because...
Marteloskop-Übung im Tharandter Wald
Gastbeitrag von Erik Nestler (ANW Hochschulgruppe Tharandt) Die Anforderungen an unseren Wald und die Herausforderungen, denen sich Förster:Innen stellen müssen, nehmen stetig zu. Um den harmonischen Einklang zwischen Ökonomie, Ökologie und den Bedürfnissen der Waldbesuchenden zu schaffen, sind bei der Auszeichnung von Beständen sowohl Erfahrung als auch Übung essenziell. Der 120 Jahre alte, von Buchen...
Managing forests virtually
Did you know that there are over 240 special one-hectare forest sites called marteloscopes in 26 countries that are used for field-based training and education of forestry professionals, students, forest owners, policy makers and even the broader public? This unique set of sites is brought together by the Integrate Network, facilitated by EFI. In a marteloscope,...









