Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW, Poland) welcomed the consortium to our third meeting in Warsaw in March, followed by an exciting field trip to the Celestynów forest, hosted by the Polish State Forest. Owning 77% of polish forests and harvesting nearly 40000 thousand m3 of timber in 2016 , the importance of the Polish State Forest is undisputed. In the morning, together with some local foresters and professor Lech Płotkowski from SGGW general specificities of Polish forests, but also local issues were discussed in the excellent Celestynów Forest Education Centre. One of the main topics was the specificity of the State Forest activity in the vicinity of a large agglomeration.

The visit to a harvester during thinning operations in a 43 years old pine stand was a highlight of the field session and a good opportunity to talk with the local forest company owner and harvester operator about details of their daily work (e.g. technical details of used harvesters, work efficiency, cooperation with State Forests). In the neighbouring stand natural pine regeneration was the focus, which led to discussions about the site impact of harvesters and possible ways reducing or avoiding them. A campfire lunch was used for final discussions, before heading back to Warsaw.

More information about our host: Warsaw University of Life Sciences
More about Polish State Forest, but also the controversial issue of Białowieża forest: http://www.lasy.gov.pl/en