A training workshop “Best practices of deadwood management” was held on November 23-24 in the Sil’ village on the territory of the Uzhanskyi National Nature Park. The event was organized by the NGO «Ecosphera» in partnership with the Uzhanskyi National Nature Park.
The workshop was attended by members of the international Network of Researchers and Experts as well as other invited stakeholders, representing Zakarpattia Regional Department of Forestry and Game Management, Velykobereznyans’ke and Verkhovyns’ke State Forestry Enterprises, Zakarpattia Regional State Administration – Department of Ecology and Natural Resources, State Ecological Inspection in the Zakarpattia Region, Uzhanskyi National Nature Park, Verkhovyns’kyi National Nature Park, Hutsulshchyna National Park, Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, Ukrainian Research Institute of Mountain Forestry, Uzhhorod National University, Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Institute of Ecology of the Carpathians, Ukrainian Entomological Society, WWF-Ukraine, FSC Ukraine.
A GAP analysis of deadwood management in Ukraine as well as recommendations on best practices of deadwood management developed by members of the international Network of Researchers and Experts were presented at the workshop. In particular, there was a discussion on the diameter of wood, which is of particular importance for the maintenance of biodiversity in forests and for which management measures should be applied. The participants proposed to leave standing and lying deadwood in the amount of 5% from the total stand stock to maintain the diversity of forest biota in commercial forests of State Forest Enterprises.
RESFOR project experts presented also the results of the field research conducted in protected and commercial forests of the Carpathians. Pavlo Kravets, Director of the FSC Ukraine National Office, presented the vision of the deadwood management issue in the context of maintaining the environmental values according to the FSC National Standard for Ukraine.
The participants of the workshop had also a field visit to water protective and anti-erosion old-growth forests on the territory of the Uzhanskyi National Nature Park, which were presented by the employees of the Park. Typical features of virgin forests and “ageing islands” were demonstrated and discussed during the excursion.
The training workshop was held in the framework of a Romanian-Ukrainian cross-border project «Promote deadwood for resilient forests in the Romanian-Ukrainian cross-border region (RESFOR)», which is implemented by the WWF Romania in partnership with the University of Suceava, UkrRIMF, and NGO «Ecosphera».
