From 19 to 21 October 2022, the traditional meeting of the EU Forest Directors took place in Czech Republic. Delegates from 20 EU Member States, representatives of the European Commission and representatives of international organizations such as the European State Forest Association (EUSTAFOR), Forest Europe and the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF) attended the meeting. Among the Czech participants were also representatives from the Forestry and Game Management Research Institute and, of course, our Forest Management Institute.
As part of the excursion, the participants visited the Křivoklát region. The whole excursion focused on the cooperation between forest management and nature conservation. In addition to concrete examples of management, the participants had the opportunity to experience how biodiversity can be promoted in forests while maintaining economic use. This demonstration site (called Marteloscope) we visited was created within the Integrate Network.
The excursion took place in Křivoklátsko. The Křivoklát Region is located in the western part of Central Bohemia. The region is formed by a complex of about forty thousand hectares of forest. The Křivoklát Region is historically very closely connected with forests and their long-term management. The current representation of more than eighty tree species clearly indicates the rich natural potential of the area with high forest cover. It also reflects the thoughtful and considerate actions of local owners, managers, and foresters over many centuries. The vast stands of mixed cultural forests of the Křivoklát Region carry a deep historical legacy that must be built upon by current and future generations of foresters.
Despite the difficult current situation regarding the effects of climate change in the forest in the Křivoklát Region, the local foresters are permanently increasing biodiversity through thoughtful and sensitive management methods. In particular, this involves increasing the proportion of natural regeneration, small regeneration elements with an average size of 0.2 hectares, establishing rich mixed forests and gradually changing the species composition in favor of native broadleaves and fir. This method is mainly used to manage stands that have a simpler species composition compared to previous periods. The aim is to achieve a species-diverse, age- and spatially diverse forest that fulfils all forest functions equally.
On 13 May 2010 the Křivoklát Forestry Park was founded here by the free will of the founders, who are Jerome Colloredo-Mannsfeld, the country’s largest private forest owner, Lesy České republiky, s. p. (Forests of the Czech Republic, hereinafter as “LČR”), the largest forest manager in the Czech Republic and CzechForestry Society, branch Křivoklát, the oldest professional forestry organization in the Czech Republic. The Křivoklát Forestry Park covers an area of 17,000 hectares, of which 13,000 hectares comprise forest. The forest owners and managers have decided to manage the area according to the forestry park standard. It is an area open to all nature-friendly human activities benefiting the region.
The Křivoklát Forestry Park builds on several hundred years of human care for the Křivoklát landscape and, in the spirit of the motto “A territory for nature and people”, aims to improve the condition of Křivoklát nature, maintain the productive potential of the landscape and at the same time preserve Křivoklát forestry as a cultural legacy of our ancestors.
The field trip was organized by Forests of the Czech Republic and Forest Management Institute and was divided in two routes. The first route was the practical demonstration of the Marteloscope plot within the Integrate project and the second one demonstrated examples of management in Křivoklátsko Forestry Park, like bark beetle management and restoration of calamity areas, changing forest- and water regime management, use of European subsidies in forestry, as well as reclamation of former Druchema charcoal burning site.