On November 6th and 7th, a large team of 45 forestry experts from Slovakia, who were invited by the Slovak project partners and were interested in oak management under continuous cover forestry (CCF), met with the representatives of the Hungarian partners.
On Thursday evening, the meeting began with dinner, after which Péter Csépányi, Deputy CEO of Pilis Park Forestry Company (PPFC), gave a presentation on the state of CCF in Hungary and the pioneering role of PPFC in this area. He also showed that PPFC has been developing its current practice in CCF over two decades. Attila Csór, Head of the Forestry Department at PPFC, then gave a short presentation on the IT system for the large-scale introduction of the Forestry Professional Information System, including the CCF Module and related mobile applications. Through the presentations, the participants received information on how PPFC solves this completely new task.
The presentation in Stúrovo (Photo: A. Csór)
The field experience exchange continued on Friday morning. The two field experiments led by the HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research in cooperation with the PPFC and many other research organizations. The results of the experimental research was demonstrated on the field by the scientists of HUN-REN CER (Flóra Tinya and Bence Kovács). The Pilis Forestry Systems Experiment, which started in 2014, compares the forestry treatments of shelterwood (clear-cutting, preparation-cutting, retention tree group) and continuous cover forestry (gap-cutting) systems. In 2023, it was extended by creating gaps in the preparation cutting area and in the closed forest to investigate the effect of the surrounding forest matrix on the gaps. The Pilis Gap Experiment began in 2018. It investigates the effect of gap size and gap shape within the context of continuous cover forestry. The results of the Pilis Gap Experiment show that oak regeneration can occur successfully in relatively small gaps of 150-300 m2. The research conducted in the Pilis Gap Experiment confirmed the observation of PPFC experts that elliptical gaps extending in a north-south direction are more advantageous for growing oak in gaps, because this gap shape significantly reduces competition from other plants.
The stakeholder goup at the Pilis Gap Experiment (Photo: M. Vančo)
After lunch, the team visited the Pro Silva Exemplary Forest of “Mexikó-puszta” and the younger stands in the surrounding area with the guiding Peter Csépányi and David Simon from the PPFC. In the younger stand (aged 35 ys), which is at the beginning of the CCF transformation, the professional public was able to observe the rules for selecting the Future-trees and the Future-trees that have thickened intensively because of two interventions.
In the Pro Silva Exemplary Forest, the experts were able to get acquainted with the results of the CCF management that has been going on since 1999. The exemplary forest is a 9.73 ha submontane mixed beech forest area, where management according to the Pro Silva principles began in 1999, when the stand was 89 years old. Professor Hans-Jürgen Otto, who was president of Pro Silva Europe at the time, was present when the idea for the demonstration area was born. All logging interventions in the forest over the past 25 years have been documented for later economic analysis. The area illustrates the steps of the transition to CCF, the steps related to climate change, and the cellular, gap-like renewal of oaks. In addition, it showcases the economic results of the past 25 years.
Discussion in the Pro Silva Exemplary Forest "Mexikó-puszta" (Photo: M. Vančo)
The development of the oak regeneration in small gaps of different ages was convincing. In the gap that opened earliest, in 2004, a young oak tree around 8-9 m high has already grown. Among the beeches and hornbeams in the multi-age stand, there are oak trees with around 80 cm DBH. There was also a lot of discussion about the controlling of the game population.
Those interested could learn how to deal with an oak mixture in a beech stand in concept of continuous cover forestry. The presentation on CCF management of PPFC provided valuable support to Slovak partners and the forestry experts from Pro Silva Slovakia. Thanks to forestry engineer Tomáš Maczala for the professional translation during the event.
