We are helping the estonian fund for nature highlight eco-friendly forestry
The Estonian Fund for Nature (Eestimaa Looduse Fond, ELF) has launched a website www.metsaomanikule.ee to support local private forest owners and promote sustainable forest management. Ülemiste Centre has supported ELF in creating video clips showcasing continuous cover forestry, and you can find the handbook in Estonian language here: www.metsaomanikule.ee/pusimetsandus
The goal of this website is to help forest owners think through and plan the use of their forests while taking nature into consideration. Among other things, the website includes information about different forest management methods, practical advice for planning forestry work, as well as an overview of the different forest values, which forest owners could pay attention to when in the forest.
ELF is also studying different eco-friendly forest management methods in Estonia, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Tartu working on a project launched this year. The Fund also holds training days introducing eco-friendly forest management and forest values to forest owners, as well as establishing the first demo forest in Estonia for continuous cover forestry.
Eco-friendly forestry methods such as continuous cover forestry make it possible to manage forests so that sufficient space is left for the biota while also providing people with work, income and self-realisation opportunities. In the case of continuous cover forestry, select felling is used to cut the forest according to short intervals (every 3–10 years, depending on conditions) – trees that do not dominate in the forest stand are removed, gaps are created, thus promoting natural undergrowth. Meanwhile, all species native to the forest can continue to live there.
Ülemiste Centre supports the three-year introductory project of the eco-friendly management of continuous cover forestry, as it aligns with one of the main values of Ülemiste Centre: to value and preserve the Estonian environment and nature.
Read more: https://elfond.ee/en
