3.- Activate private owners and cooperative forest management

„WAVE ŠŠ“ aplikacija je razvijena za zaposlenike sektora šumarstva, licencirane izvođače radova i vlasnike šuma. Cilj aplikacije je smanjiti administrativno opterećenje gospodarstva i ubrzati komunikaciju između šumoposjednika, službenika Ministarstva, licenciranih izvođača i proizvođača božićnih drvaca.

Aplikacija sadrži 4 glavna modula. Prvi modul je modul za doznaku stabala i izdavanje popratnica za drvo. Drugi modul odnosi se na biološku obnovu šuma. Treći modul je modul planiranja kojeg koriste isključivo zaposlenici Ministarstva za koordinaciju rada tekuću te planiranje rada nadolazećih godina. Četvrti modul odnosi se isključivo na proizvođače božićnih drvaca.

„WAVE ŠŠ“  is developed for the employees of forestry sector and licensed contractors. The aim of the application is to reduce the administrative burden on the economy and to speed up communication between forest owners, Ministry officials, lincensed contrators, and Christmas trees producers.

Application contains 4 main modules. First module covers remittance of trees and issuance of a tree receipt. Second modul encompass biological reforestation.Third modul is the planning modul which is used exclusively by employees of the Ministry, for coordinating current year work and planning work for the coming years. Fourth module applies to Christmas tree manufacturers. 

Die Erhaltung der Waldfunktionen und die Versorgung einer Region mit der erneuerbaren Ressource Holz erfordern neue Strategien für Waldbesitzerinnen und Waldbesitzer, die sie nur in Zusammenarbeit mit verschiedenen Partnern umsetzen können. Antworten auf diese Herausforderungen sollen im Rahmen dieses Pilotprojektes, für das der politische Bezirk Graz-Umgebung für Österreich ausgewählt wurde, anhand einer nachhaltigen Holzmobilisierungskette und einer klimafitten Waldbewirtschaftung erarbeitet werden. Die Holzmobilisierung im Privatwald bedeutet, den Waldbesitzer zu mobilisieren und sie für eine klimafitte Waldbewirtschaftung zu begeistern. Durch den Eigentumsschutz besteht ausschließlich die Möglichkeiten über die Besitzer der Wälder zusätzliche Holzmobilisierung zu erreichen. Ein wesentlicher Projektschritt besteht im Aufzeigen von beispielhaften Kleinwaldbewirtschaftern, die in Form einer aktiven Familienforstwirtschaft bereits seit Generationen ihr Holznutzungspotential ausschöpfen. Unter dem Motto „Wir machen unseren Wald klimafit“ werden aktive Kleinwaldbewirtschafter als Klimafit-Botschafter in die Öffentlichkeit geholt.

Projektinhalte:

• Kontinuität in der Betreuung und Beratung von Waldbesitzern aufbauen
• Holzaufkommen aus der Projektregion steigern
• gezielte Öffentlichkeitsarbeit im städtischen Umfeld für eine positiven Bezug der Notwendigkeit der Bewirtschaftung unserer Wälder
• Aufbau einer Beratungs- und Betreuungsstruktur, die über das Projekt hinaus ohne öffentliche Finanzmittel sichergestellt werden kann
• Weiterentwicklung digitaler Angebote für Waldbesitzer 

The Forscope is a prototype of an advanced planning system for forest biomass supply chain. It works as a digital marketplace for forest biomass, providing information on supply and demand for forest biomass for various types of users, biomass producers, biomass consumers and logistical suppliers of processing and transportation. It also allows the planning of the supply chain, i.e. it sequences the forest biomass splitting operations according to the available equipment fleet and their productivity, in order to minimize logistics costs and meet the supply contracts of the biomass plants. It can also provide the optimal transport routes and cost estimates with processing equipment, with transport equipment, thus allowing the management of an operations plan that can be monthly but also a daily management of operations.

The platform "Je me forme pour mes bois" was initiated by CNPF in association with Fransylva and the training program FOGEFOR. The aim is to provide online pedagogical content and a training offer (field workshops, day events, videos, etc) to the forest owners and forest teachers. The pedagogical content is divided by themes, in order to cover all the tasks that forest owners must go through: assess the forest production potential, protect it and manage it via cuttings and other forestry works, sell wood, develop new services in the forest, carry out administrative tasks. The content is also divided into three levels of difficulty, depending on the user's profile and experience with forest ("discover", "learn", and "take action"). The site also contains videos and forest owners interview videos, as well as additional resources (books, journals, etc) to go further on certain topics.

The aim of the project is to propose a simple tool, free to use, with adapted services for the novice forest owners and allow the mobilization of wood from small private forests. Professionals in the forest and wood sector will also be able to access this tool in order to find information on the legislation and manage forest worksites by completing online procedures. The tool is used to facilitate forest management between forest owners and enterprises. Owners can locate their forest plots on an online map with a cadastre and then describe their stand using a question and answer system. They can also contact neighbouring owners using a form. An owner can request a quote online for forestry work from information on their stands. Professionals have the possibility to carry out their administrative procedures online. The owner follows the progress of his forest worksite on the platform. The module for estimating wood prices has an educational purpose in order to explain price formation. Finally it is possible to access a directory of professionals and publish an ad to sell or buy plots. All these services are on a national scale, but specific and regional information is provided to the forest owner. At the end of 2020, more than 3300 accounts had been created.

The scheme started in 1932 to ensure finances for rejuvenation after harvesting forests. Later, several forest measures have been added to the scheme, and the share of income to be disposed of has been adjusted. Now, the forest owner decides for him-/herself how much to set aside, within 4-40% of the sales revenue. The money is not taxed when it is set aside, but 15% of the money used from the fund is taxed. The forestry fund belongs to the forest property and should be used for silviculture, forest roads, forest inventory, production of Christmas trees, courses for the forest owner or employees, environmental measures, and the establishment and expansion of bioenergy plants. The forest owner is not given interest on the contribution to the forestry fund. This money is used to manage the scheme, and measures that will benefit the forestry community, e.g. information to forest owners and schools, development projects etc. The Government considers the scheme to be one of the most important measures in the forestry.

The preservation of forest functions and the supply of a region with the renewable resource wood require new strategies for forest owners, which they can only implement in cooperation with various partners. Answers to these challenges are to be developed within the framework of this pilot project, for which the political district of "Graz-Umgebung" was selected for Austria, on the basis of a sustainable wood mobilisation chain and climate-fit forest management. Timber mobilisation in private forests means mobilising forest owners and getting them interested in climate-friendly forest management. Because of property protection, additional wood mobilisation can only be achieved in cooperation with the forest owners. An essential step in the project is to point out exemplary small-scale forest managers who have been exploiting their wood utilisation potential for generations in the form of active family forestry. Under the motto "We make our forest climate-fit", active small-scale forest managers are brought into the public eye as climate-fit ambassadors.

The main objectives are:

• Establish continuity in the support and advice of forest owners
• Increase wood volumes from the project region
• Targeted public relations measures in the urban environment to generate a positive perception about the need to manage our forests
• Establish an advisory and support structure that can be ensured without public funding beyond the project
• Further development of digital offers for forest owners

Virtual forest 2.0 is a research and development project that has developed a digital application to enable the visualization of forest resources and spatial data in 3D. A virtual forest is software that can be utilized in participatory land use planning, advising forest owners, and taking into account the goals of user and interest groups in the areas.The virtual forest can be used to increase citizens' understanding of different forest management options and to illustrate the landscape effects of a forest plan. The virtual forest can be used to visualize the holdings of any forest owner, and the application is compatible with various information systems in the forest industry.The virtual forest 2.0 uses open QGIS geographic information system to generate changes in forest patterns or tree data, habitat data and terrain data in a virtual 3D-visualization.  The free downloadable Virtual Forest 2.0 application was released in October 2020.