2015 Silvicultural Prize Honours Work on Central European Forestry
The Institute of Chartered Foresters has awarded the 2015 Percy Stubbs, John Bolton King and Edward Garfitt Prize for Silviculture (The Silvicultural Prize) to the authors of a study on the long term stand dynamics of managed spruce, fir and beech in Central Europe.
Hans Pretzsch, Peter Biber, Enno Uhl and Erhard Dauber receive the award in recognition of their paper: Long-term stand dynamics of managed spruce–fir–beech mountain forests in Central Europe: structure, productivity and regeneration success, published in Forestry (2015) 88 (4): 407-428.
Prof Dr Hans Pretzsch, Technical University of Munich
Forestry is ICF’s respected international journal of forestry research, produced by Oxford University Press. The Silvicultural Prize is awarded annually by the Institute to the author(s) of the paper which, in the opinion of the Editors, best meets the criteria set down by the anonymous donor of the prize fund.
An Elegant Analysis of Long-term Data
Gary Kerr FICFor, Editor-in-Chief of Forestry, described the significance of the paper:
“This paper is an elegant analysis of long-term data on the application of the shelterwood–femel-coupe system to mountain forests in central Europe composed of Norway spruce, silver fir and beech. Based on the findings of the study a refined silvicultural system is proposed for application and its advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The paper exemplifies the journal’s mission – ‘excellent science: practical implementation’.”
Speaking following announcement of the award, lead author Hans Pretzsh said:
“With our work we always move between the basic science and forest practice.
“We visited the long-term plots, which were the basis for this paper, several times in 2015 with forest practitioners who were developing a silvicultural guideline for mountain forests. We presented and discussed the results in order to instil the achieved results into forest practice. By doing so we also ensured that we had the required support for our network of long-term experiments.
“The Silvicultural Prize acknowledges the aspect of our work with which we identify the most: the science for solving real-world problems. For that reason the team and I are so proud and grateful for this award.”
The Silvicultural Prize-winning article is available to read in full on the Forestry website.
