Forest management, ecosystem, resilience

ForestMap intuitive interface allows anyone to automatically generate forest inventories of a chosen area without the need of field work and unnecessary delays. ForestMap is an unprecedented solution that delivers accurate, quick and cost-effective forest inventory reports. It is necessary to integrate a maximum of information sources to generate the most accurate, complete and updated inventories possible: LiDAR, satellite, photogrammetry, available terrain data... Stakeholders in the forestry sector are not used to working with technological tools, so it is important to do important demonstration work and support.

ForestMap has a positive impact for a major mobilisation of wood resources allowing forest-owners, operators and indutries to assess stands in an easy and remote way. ForestMap is able to provide valuable reports on demand. An operative version of the web platform (link) is working for 10 provinces in Spain, that covers more than 3 M ha. ForestMap models showed a high performance in terms of accuracy (volume BIAS< 20%) and response times being able to produce a full inventory of less than 500ha in minutes.
ForestMap has been used to produce tailor-made products for specific uses and clients, based on innovation projects:

• Tool for calculating (link)the amount of carbon in forest masses in the province of Bizkaia (Basque Country, Spain).
• Inventory mapping of fuel models tool and for the prevention and management of forest fires in La Rioja

Many forestry associations offer so called “forest management contracts”. Together with the forester of the regarding forestry association forest owners can regularly plan the necessary silvicultural actions.

This is an interesting approach especially for old forest owners who can´t any more take care. Furthermore it is an opportunity also for the new forest owner generation with high percentage living far away from the estate.

The state forester is looking after all actions after the forest owner’s decisions and after the accounting (income and expenses). Costs for a forestry management contract depend on the services agreed on in the contract.

The basic idea is the processing of natural and financial data for typical forest stands and selected forest treatment alternatives after previous simulation calculations. Thereby, the question initially was limited to the depiction of the alternatives “thinning” or “without thinning”.

This prototype can be complemented with additional indicators; other areas and forest treatment strategies and therefore more data should be added and furthermore more risk integration has to be done

The sorted single tree data then were condensed to coefficients via MS Access queries. The coefficients contain information about the arising amounts of wood of the simulated treatments or rather the timber stock of the remaining stands – sorted into sorts of wood and simulation period. After feeding the data to the consultation support system, a connection to current prices for timber and timber harvesting costs was established. Based on the data from the second National Forest Inventory, the stratification of the area of the Bavarian “Tertiäres Hügelland” and the compilation of simulation stocks was carried out. Using the forest growth simulator Silva 2.2, the simulation stocks were updated once without treatment and once updated according to a thinning scheme. In the next step, the results of the simulation runs (single tree data for the remaining and the outgoing stock) were sorted according to regional sorting criteria using the sorting program BDat 2.0.

The ForestManager is an app that serves as a reminder in the management of forestland. Green areas and forests can be managed and documented with the support of GPS data. These functions offer the possibility to document observations, to take pictures, to print them, to send and to export them for further use. Moreover, it allows a comparison of historical and current data and can detect changes in the environment.

Technological assistance for the efficient management of forest areas.

The Schönbuchturm is a lookout tower east of Herrenberg in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. This walk-in wooden structure draws attention to the construction with wood. Notably is the use of regional wood (larch heartwood). The industry involved in the construction also comes from the area.
The main goals of the project are:
Regional added value / value chain
Architecture & wood usage
Public visibility

Drawing attention to the possibilities of wood construction and architecture as well as regional sustainable value chain

The thematic focus is on the sustainable design of the entire value chain in the field of (tropical) forest and (tropical) wood. A project in Germany is a digital forest monitoring. The main idea is the development of an app that collects decentralized data in the forest and consolidates them on a platform. Based on this information, the app shall automatically offer information and recommend actions. The app enables forest owners to collect data even if they do not possess subject-specific knowledge. This tool facilitates the cultivation of forest and helps to make it more efficient. Furthermore, due to the easy application, more wood can be mobilized.

Accomplishment of several projects

PANA Ltd. was founded in 2002 as a subsidiary company from Međimurjeplet and continued a long tradition of one of the oldest wood processing plants, established in 1911 in Turopolje region. The company developed own production of parquet as a base activity. Adhering the roots of the wood industry, power and industrial sustainability PANA production is reflected in the industrial complex on 14 650 m², which applies modern technology and innovation. It employs 140 workers. In processing and production, the most commonly used wood is oak.

The excellence of the work and the competitiveness of the company PANA Ltd. have been recognized in the domestic and the international market. The dominant part of production, 90 percent, is related to foreign equity, while the responsibility for nature and the environment is confirmed by the prestigious FSC certification (the Forest Stewardship Council; The FSC), which guarantees the respect of high ecological, social and economic standards of forest management.

Wood waste, generated during the production process through a modern and ecologically set up boiler room, is used as a fuel for heating of the working space and 1500 m³ drying capacities. To maximize advantages of these precious raw materials, in 2015 we installed and put into operation a plant for the production of wood briquettes and a modern cogeneration plant for electricity production with a capacity of 1MW, by which we fully complete the biological cycle.

The strength grading of timber is mandatory for structural uses. Most of the sawmills in the area are small or medium-sized enterprises that cannot acquire an automatic classification line because of the very high costs. For this reason it was decided to develop a new portable machine, with significantly reduced costs, which could be shared between the sawmill of the territory. The new grading machine was design starting from the technology ViSCAN of Microtec With these results, it becomes possible to introduce the machine strength grading among small/medium sawmills. Thanks to this new opportunity the companies can enjoy advantages both in terms of quantitative yields and efficiency in the classification. On the other hand, the portability of the machine is an interesting stimulus to its possible spread: neighboring sawmill could share the purchase or lease the equipment, reducing the amount of initial investment and operating costs. This sharing mode is well suited also to a non-continuous production of lumber. The machine was then set on the timber species present in the FMMF territory already used or potentially suitable for construction: ViSCAN-portable was officially certified as strength grading machine on March 2014. At the same date the settings for Douglas fir and black pine were approved, while for fir and chestnut they were approved on October 2014. Some local sawmills have already used the machine to grade their sawnwood for structural uses, but the VISCAN-portable has also been requested by other Italian regions, especially to grade chestnut timber.

iBioNet (Intelligent Bioenergy Network) is a spin-off of the University of Florence, established in 2015.
iBioNet supports the local communities through the development of renewable energies and guarantees the environmental and social sustainability. Furthermore, iBioNet promotes wood-energy supply chains, assists the enterprises and the local communities. iBioNet supports the energy production togheter with the maintenance strategy into the local framework. iBioNet promotes the biomass energy to reduce the GHG emissions and as drive force for the rural economy and forest management.

iBioNet pays particular attention to the growth of a sustainable economic model, compatible with the economic and ethical development of local companies, thanks to the coherence between the core business of "renewable companies", based on principles of environmental sustainability and efficient use of resources.

iBioNet’s services are:
•       Planning and design of biomass supply chains, through specific analyses and the development of web applications that allow an assessment of the sustainability of the new energy plants.
•      Biofuel Certification Service and emissions analyses aimed at certifying the quality of solid fuels (wood chips). In particular, iBioNet issues quality certification of solid biomass samples, according to the UNI EN ISO standard.
• iBioNet also produces and installs SensorWebEnergy (SWE) and Air Quality (AIRQ) remote monitoring systems and able to determine: the first the quantity and quality of biomass supplied to the plants; the energy eventually produced; the overall performance of the plant, weighed against climatic and electricity consumption data; whereas the second, weather data and emission value data of CO2; CO; NO2; VOC; PM10; PM2.5 . SWE and AIRQ data are sent in real time to the web platform (www.ibionet.eu) to be processed and made immediately available to the users.

Private foresters had a lot of quantitative data thanks to the data accumulated by the National Forest Inventory for more than 20 years, as well as information on the structure of the private forest thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture's survey in 1999. But they did not take into account the behaviour of forest owners. In 2009, the network for observing the behaviour of forest owners was launched by the CNPF and Fransylva, with the financial support of France Bois Forêt. The objective is to collect new information on the behaviour of forest owners, particularly regarding the management of their forests according to their forest area and the region where they live. In the surveys, the same behavioural trends of forest owners appear: sentimental attachment to their wood, environmental responsibility, heritage to be valued and source of economic income.

The main outcomes include so far:

• Surveys carried out by telephone to owners of more than 4ha of wood cadastral land with a duration of 15min
• 2500 people interviewed throughout France during the surveys
• Other surveys for specific studies at a more regional level (risk perception, climate change,...).  
• The results of the surveys make it possible to create new management tools for forest owners and new distribution media. They are also used to improve the advice of technicians in order to better take into account the expectations of forest owners and encourage them to mobilize their wood.