In the last week of July 2022, the University of Vermont hosted an international workshop focused on the communication of science and practice in the Carpathian region. The main content of the workshop, which was prepared by Professor William S. Keeton, was the issue of ecological forestry and its development within the framework of cooperation between the USA and Europe. Participants from some Carpathian countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary) and also employees of the Vienna Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention traveled to Vermont. Two workshop participiants, Martin Mikoláš (Slovakia) and Petr Kjučukov (Czech Republic), represented the Department of Forest Ecology of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.
During the workshop, communication and implementation of scientific outputs in forest management were discussed. The hosts also set up field trips to select locations in Vermont, led by local forestry staff. The University of Vermont, as well as a significant part of forestry practice in Vermont, specializes in the principles of ecological forestry, consisting in equal consideration of the various functions of the forest (production of timber and maple syrup, protection of biodiversity, carbon storage, recreational functions, etc.). The participants thus had the opportunity to see in practice, for example, logging with variable intensity to increase the heterogeneity of the environment (bird habitats) or leaving dead wood as an obvious part of management. This practical experience was very valuable, especially since Vermont in many ways resembles the Central European area in terms of its conditions.
Separate press releases will be produced from the workshop and further cooperation is being considered in the future.
