Funding for research on Climate Smart Forestry in National Park Utrechtse Heuvelrug
The European Forest Institute (EFI) has awarded a grant of €140,000 to the Research & Education Hub Utrechtse Heuvelrug for research into climate-smart forest management on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. “With this grant we can take the first steps towards increasing knowledge about ecosystem restoration in the area’s nature reserves,” says hub researcher René Verburg.
European forests are severely affected by climate change as their species diversity and forest structure leave them vulnerable increasing drought and heat stress. This vulnerability certainly applies to the forests on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, which must also deal with the effects of nitrogen deposition and highly acidified sandy soil. The result is sharply declining vitality of the forest. Climate-smart forest management aims to increase the resilience of forests and calls for local adaptation of forest management.
With this grant we can take the first steps towards increasing knowledge about ecosystem restoration in the nature reserves of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug.
A regional collaboration
The European Forest Institute (EFI) is an organization that provides research and policy advice on European forests. Within EFI's FORWARDS project, which is mapping the vulnerability to climate change of various European forest areas and building a knowledge base for climate-smart forest management and restoration, a grant of €140,000 has been awarded to the Research & Education Hub Utrechtse Heuvelrug for setting up research on climate-smart forest management in the Utrecht region.
Insight into climate-smart forest management is key and is valuable knowledge for local landowners.
The Research & Education Hub Utrechtse Heuvelrug is a collaboration between Utrecht University, Stichting Nationaal Park Utrechtse Heuvelrug and Staatsbosbeheer. Within the Hub, scientists, students and stakeholders contribute to the research agenda of Stichting Nationaal Park Utrechtse Heuvelrug, which focuses on the protection, conservation and development of nature, landscape and cultural-historical heritage. “Preserving and developing nature is one of the ambitions of Stichting Nationaal Park Utrechtse Heuvelrug, but can be a challenge due to, among other things, the changing climate. Insight into climate-smart forest management is key here and is valuable knowledge for local landowners,” says Gijs de Kruif, director of National Park Utrechtse Heuvelrug.
In this project we combine climate and soil data with tree growth data to increase our understanding of forest functioning.
Contribution to European monitoring and evaluation
“Forests are important in the Dutch landscape but are having a hard time. In this project we combine climate and soil data with tree growth data to increase our understanding of forest functioning,” explains Dr. Marijke van Kuijk, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University.
The EFI-funded research will monitor the survival and growth of drought-tolerant saplings in new field trials and compare them with local growing conditions, including light, temperature, rainfall and soil quality. Existing plots will be examined to see how these growth conditions relate to historical data regarding the growth and condition of these forest stands. To ensure that lessons learned can be applied in practice, the research results will be included in the ForestWard Observatory, a European monitoring and evaluation tool that contributes to understanding the impact of climate change on forests and provides a knowledge base for sustainable decision-making forest management.