How do we move from theoretical knowledge to practical decisions in the forest? For students who took part in the European ForDiL project, the answer came partly through hands-on practice, exchanges with other students and discovering Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF).

Learning to recognise the issues affecting a forest stand, deciding which trees to retain or harvest, and understanding the consequences of those choices… Forest management is also learned by doing. This is particularly true of CCF, which requires interventions to be adapted to the characteristics of each stand and to take account of interactions between trees.

This silvicultural approach is at the heart of ForDiL, a European project that brought together partners from Belgium, France and the Czech Republic to develop digital learning tools that can be used directly in the forest.

Through exercises on marteloscopes and a working plot (travailloscope), students were able to engage with practical forest management situations, put their knowledge into practice and better understand the decisions involved in CCF. The ForDiL app also allows them to analyse their choices and view the results.

Mobility activities organised between the partner countries enriched this experience. By discovering different forest contexts and taking part in field activities, students were able to compare what they had learned with new practices. These exchanges also helped them gain confidence and develop their professional vocabulary, particularly in English.

What did they take away from these experiences? What did the field exercises and international exchanges really bring them?
At the project’s closing conference, several students shared their experiences and reflections on this way of learning about forest management, close to the realities of the field.

Discover their video testimonials.