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Marteloscope: a tool for closer-to-nature management

Marteloscope: a tool for closer-to-nature management

17 July, 20260 Comments

What is a Marteloscope?

A Marteloscope is a tool used in forest management to closely evaluate which trees to keep, thin or harvest. In practice, a Marteloscope is a precisely mapped forest plot where every single tree has been recorded, numbered, and assessed.

It serves as an outdoor classroom where different stakeholders can practise making tree selection decisions, compare their choices, and discuss the trade-offs between economic and ecological values.

The concept was developed and has been championed by the European Forest Institute (EFI) through the Integrate Network, which coordinates a growing network of nearly 300 Marteloscope sites across 28 European countries and a site in Canada, with the potential to expand to other continents.

Discover

  • Where does the name come from?
  • Who is it for?
  • How does it work?
  • What is the size of a Marteloscope?
  • What is it used for?
  • A typical session
  • Case study: Ireland
  • Case study: Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia)
  • Resources
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Birch sap forext fridays webinar. Birch trunk with a tube connected to a bottle

Birch sap business opportunities

29 May, 20260 Comments

Explore the importance of birch sap and uncover exciting business opportunities. Featuring Justas Mingaila, Innovation Support Specialist and Forestry Scientist in non-timber forest products at the Lithuanian Agricultural Advisory Service, who brings hands-on experience as a forest owner and seasonal sap business operator supplying raw sap to processing companies.

FOREXT Annual Meeting 2025 in Lithuania: Collaboration and Innovation

07 January, 20260 Comments

The 13th Annual Meeting of FOREXT took place in Kaunas, Lithuania in early October 2025. Hosted by the Lithuanian Agricultural Advisory Service, the meeting brought together forestry advisors and researchers from across Europe to reflect on the past year, share knowledge, and plan future activities.

During the first day, the network had strategic discussions on FOREXT’s governance and priorities for the coming years. Members explored how the network can make its wealth of experience and information more accessible to those who need it most.

The second day was carried out around thematic sessions focused on forest soil health, resilience, and practical tools for advisory work. Highlights included:

  • Insights from the SOILL-Startup project on empowering existing Mission Soil Living Labs and foster a collaborative ecosystem that brings together stakeholders, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners
  • HoliSoils  presented their synthesis for practitioners and forest extension services.

Collaboration was at the heart of the event, with contributions from projects including FORADVISE and TRANSFORMIT.

Participants also enjoyed a field trip to the Dubrava Arboretum, which hosts over 800 different species and subspecies of plants. In the Dubrava Strict Nature Reserve, they visited an experimental plot used for measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as a long-term observation plot that was previously dominated by Norway spruce. Bark beetle outbreaks and windthrow events have affected spruce regeneration there, allowing common hazel and mountain ash to become strong competitors.

A big thank you to our Lithuanian hosts and to all partners who joined onsite and online. These inspiring days reaffirmed the value of working together to tackle common challenges and strengthen forest resilience across Europe.