Members
Our members represent 18 organisations across 16 European countries, working together to support the people and institutions at the heart of private forestry in Europe.
Through the network, members access a range of capacity-building opportunities, exchange experiences, experts, and expertise; develop and share extension tools; build joint learning platforms; and collaborate on European projects.
Topics explored together reflect the challenges facing private forestry across Europe today: engaging new and inactive forest owners, sustainable and climate-friendly forest management, digitalisation and e-learning, wood mobilisation, policy influence, and more.
Agricultural Advisory Service, Forestry Service Office (LAAS), Lithuania
Lithuanian Agricultural Advisory Service was founded in 1993 and has developed into a nationwide agricultural advisory system. The headquarters of the Lithuanian Agricultural Advisory Service is located in the township of Akademija (Kėdainiai District). Currently, more than 400 employees work in 46 district and municipal offices. They provide clients with complex accounting, business economy, crop production, animal husbandry, forestry, work safety and fire safety services, consult and train in the mentioned areas.
Established in 2009, Basilicon Consulting is a knowledge-intensive boutique firm with a robust international presence. Besides excelling in agriculture, forestry, food industry, and the digitalisation and globalisation of these sectors, including data services such as big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, Basilicon also boasts significant experience in EU policy, financing and procurements. Headquartered in Budapest, the diverse team comprises of Central European experts with a wealth of experience working and studying overseas, who are not only multilingual, but also culturally adaptable. By merging their unique expertise and genuine curiosity, Basilicon delivers innovative solutions to both local and international clients, frequently journeying across Europe to engage with clients and partners, thereby gaining invaluable first-hand insights into their environments.
Centre national de la propriété forestière
National Forest Ownership Centre (CNPF), France
Established in 2003, CNPF contributes to the development of French forests through advisory and coordination activities, research, training and knowledge dissemination. Its main objectives are to to clarify the public forest policies bringing all the forest development actions related to privately owned forests under a single national body, while maintaining decentralisation at regional level; to improve the consistency of the forest development measures in the areas of applied research, training for forest owners and forest micro-economics; to create closer links between the national technical experts and the extension agents in contact with the forest owners and to optimise the use of public funds.
Centre de la Propietat Forestal
Forest Ownership Centre (CPF), Catalonia
The Forest Ownership Centre (CPF) is a body governed by public law. Its competences include regulating, managing, and providing support for privately owned wooded land, which accounts for 80% of all woodland in Catalonia. CPF encourages SFM by means of forest planning instruments and forestry-related knowledge transfer; provides technical and financial support, calls for and processes EU and regional subsidies for SFM, and encourages joint forestry planning and SFM certification.
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (FFWS CZU) provides a comprehensive education system at three levels. Nine departments cover the entire field of education, science, and cooperation with practice in the field of forestry and wood processing. The faculty deals with many scientific topics for example forestry, wood industry, ecology, nature protection, zoology, economy, game management, silviculture, taxidermy and many others
Forest Advisory Service Centre, LRATC, Latvia
Forest Advisory Service Center provides information, consultation and training to private forest owners and the society as a whole on forest management issues, as well as offers forest management services to forest owners. Promotes and supports forest owners to obtain EU subsidies for forestry, as well as non-formal education for school children and families about the forest. Informs and trains hunters, hunters’ club leaders and people who want to become hunters.
The Forestry Commission is the UK government department responsible for protecting, expanding and promoting the sustainable management of woodlands, while increasing their value to society and the environment. It works closely with two agencies:
1. Forestry England manages the Public Forest Estate, which for over 100 years, we have been growing, shaping and caring for over 1,500 of the nation’s forests for the benefit and enjoyment of all, for this generation and the next. They care for more land and trees than any other organisation in England. Shaping landscapes for people, wildlife and timber. We’ve built over 1,800 miles of walking, running and cycling trails, supplying England’s largest amount of sustainably-sourced timber, and conserve the homes of thousands of plants and animals.
2. Forest Research, which is Great Britain’s principal organisation for forestry and tree-related research and is internationally renowned for the provision of evidence and scientific services in support of sustainable forestry.
European Institute of Planted Forests (IEFC)
IEFC aims to use a bottom up approach through collaboration driven by planted forest owners and practitioners and linking researchers and educators to Promote, Facilitate, Improve, Coordinate and Disseminate solutions to aid forest owners and practitioners to manage and ensure Sustainable Management of Planted Forests in Europe. The search for such solutions will require collaboration and the search for synergies with other sectors or areas linked to the bioeconomy and ecosystem services that guarantee the three pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental are addressed. This will be achieved, through coordination of research, applied training programs, networking, meetings, conferences and publications.
Landesbetrieb Wald und Holz Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
The Landesbetrieb Wald und Holz NRW’s main tasks are to sustainably maintain and develop the roles that forests play, to manage the state forest and to provide forestry services – e.g. assisting forest owners in the management of their forests. Other tasks include forest supervision (right of access, forest transformation, fire protection, etc.), the implementation of forestry and forest-based programmes (e.g. with a view to promoting the energetic and non-energetic use of wood) and the education of the public about the manifold and – above all – elementary significance of the forest to the people.
MAS is a SME founded in 1992 in the Basque Country (Spain) and comprises a team of lawyers specialized in special administrative law, and focused in Environment and Urban Planning. Their aim is to add solutions to environmental and urban problems, sometimes designing specific policies or/and working with the stakeholders involved. Environmental legal-practice comprises the environmental matters that affect the operations from forest, agriculture, construction, energy, mining, manufacturing, and economic activities. Our experience includes a large range of environmental law issues as land claims, mining rights, environmental compliance, regulation, waste and hazardous emissions and legal controls. They are actively involved in European projects in H2020, and Erasmus.
Poznań University of Life Science, Poland
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology of the Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland (PULS, PL) provides a comprehensive education at three levels: engineering, masters and doctoral levels. The faculty has 14 departments: eight in the field of forestry and six in wood technology. The faculty has also a Dendrological Garden. In addition to educational activities, the faculty deals with different scientific research projects covering different aspects of forestry, nature conservation and wood technology. The faculty also engages in various training courses on silviculture, forest use and forest protection for both the State Forest Holding and for private forest owners. The faculty also organizes the only postgraduate program in Poland, called “Forest Management Manager“, implemented under the Master of Business Administration (MBA) system.
Skogsstyrelsen
Swedish Forest Agency
The Swedish Forest Agency is the national authority in charge of forest-related issues. Its main function is to promote the kind of management of Sweden’s forests that enables the objectives of forest policy to be attained.
The forest policy places equal emphasis on two main objectives: production goals and environmental goals. As the administrative body in charge of implementing the forest policy, it cooperates with representatives from the forest industries and environmental sector towards the goals of economically and ecologically sustainable forestry.
Suomen metsäkeskus
Finnish Forest Centre
Suomen metsäkeskus is a state-funded extension organisation promoting the use of forest in the whole country. It promotes forestry and related livelihoods, advises landowners on how to care for and benefit from their forests and the ecosystems therein, collects and shares data related to Finland’s forests and enforcing forestry legislation. Their Metsään.fi-eServices offer the latest information directly to forest owners on their properties. The Finnish Forest Centre operates under the guidance of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Narodne lesnicke centrum, Slovakia
National Forest Centre
National Forest Centre is a state established semi-budgetary organization established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic in January 2006. It works in forestry research, forestry consultancy and education, forest management information systems, forest management planning, communication, environmental education and PR in forestry. It has four institutes: Forest Research Institute, Institute for Forest Consulting and Education, Institute for Forest Resources and Information, Forest Management Planning Institute.
Skogkurs, Norway
Skogbrukets Kursinstitutt / Forestry Extension Institute
Skogkurs provides continuing education and training in the forestry sector and in forestry-related fields, as well as to heighten public awareness of the importance of forestry. Skogkurs is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1958. It is a partnership with 37 forestry organisations and scientific institutions as members. Skogkurs employs 20-25 persons, half of them professional foresters and extension specialists.
Teagasc’s Forestry Development Department provides integrated forestry research, advisory and education services, which allow for rapid and effective dissemination of research through knowledge transfer and educational initiatives.
Unión de Selvicultores del Sur de Europa (USSE)
Union of Foresters of Southern Europe
USSE is a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) uniting forester organisations of Southern Europe. It aims at strengthening the associative structures of forest ownership in Southern Europe through the development of international and trans-regional cooperation projects, the dissemination of information, and the organisation of conferences, seminars and other events.
University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
The mission of the Silvopastoral Systems research group is to promote rural development through the transfer of knowledge on agroforestry systems to companies and administrations as an element of value for the improvement of the quality of products and services, and the competitiveness, in the pursuit of sustainable agroforestry management and respect for the environment.