IUFRO World Congress 2014
At the XXIV IUFRO World Congress (5-11 Oct. 2014 in Salt Lake City, USA) there was a session on coppice forests. Many partners of EuroCoppice participated and contributed.
The Technical Session 113 "Coppice Forests, a Tradition with Future" followed an interdisciplinary approach focused on the various aspects of coppice forestry. Silvicultural as well as ecological, management, utilization and social aspects were addressed from 10 presenters including 3 short poster presentations from all parts of Europe and from South Africa. A number of obvious research needs were identified.
The European COST Initiative EuroCoppice was presented and participants were encouraged and showed interest to cooperate in the future. The number of participants - sometimes more than 60 - exceeded the expectations and the places available in the room. Moreover, the lively discussion with the audience - jointly moderated by Gero Becker, University of Freiburg, Germany, and Raffaele Spinelli, Ivalsa, Italy - underlines the high interest in and relevance of coppice forest issues as well as the need for an interdisciplinary approach of coppice related research.
The following questions were, among others, intensively discussed and further research needs were identified
1. Until which age/after how many repeated cuts do coppiced stools have a good growth potential?
2. Do trees developed from coppice have an inferior mechanical stability of the root system compared to trees from seeds?
3. How does the reduction of many sprouts from one stool to one single shoot influence the growth of height, diameter and total volume?
4.What size should an optimal coppice clearcut have to achieve both good regeneration and growth?
5. Which combination of number of cuttings and rotation age fulfils the specific needs of different types of forest owners (f.e. smallholders versus pulp industry)?
6. What is the right balance and ecological and financial benefit of different numbers of standard trees in a coppice system?
7. How is the feasibility and the performance of low and higher mechanized harvesting systems under different terrain and social conditions?
8. Official Forest policy in many countries is not in favour of coppice management systems despite their beneficial effects for local communities - how can this be changed?
9. Do coppice forests deliver different, more, or better services -watershed, erosion, biodiversity cultural values -compared to high forests?
Presentations:
Introduction: presentation of the COST Action EuroCoppice by Gero Becker, Germany
Oral presentation by Peter Kampen, Macedonia
Sustainable Coppice Forest Management in the Balkan
Oral presentation by Raffaele Spinelli, Italy
Harvesting traditional coppice stands in the Northwestern Italian mountains
Oral presentation of Ahmad Valipour et al. (presented by Florian Irauschek, Austria)
Oral presentation by Patrick Pyttel, Germany
Valuable but threatened: How the abandonment of traditional forest management systems influences the occurrence of a rare tree species
Oral presentation of poster by Keith Little, South Africa
Eucalypt coppice management for rurally based, smallscale timber growers in South Africa
Oral presentation of poster by Valeriu-Norocel Nicolescu, Romania
Sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus L.) potential for coppicing: A case study