Daniel Thorell at the Swedish Forest Agency is coordinating the project, the full name of which is Water Management in Baltic Forests.
– WAMBAF is financed by the EU through the fund Interreg Baltic Sea Region. We started off planning this project back in 2012. Several workshops with our partners from Poland and the Nordic and Baltic countries revealed support for focussing on three main topics. The application we submitted was approved so we could start operationally in March 2016, he says.
The forests and forestry activities do indeed have an impact on streams and lakes in the forested landscape. When it comes to nutrients reaching the Baltic Sea, several other sources probably play a more significant role but, due to its large area, the forest still makes an important contribution.
– We lack detailed knowledge of the effects of forest management on the Baltic Sea. However, HELCOM* estimated that the natural background load from forests constitutes approximately 19 % of the nitrogen and 16 % of the phosphorus load reaching the Baltic Sea. A small perhectare leakage becomes an important A planning meeting in Palanga, Lithuania, with beaver dams causing flooding of the forest.
The three focussed topics of the project will be ditch maintenance, management of riparian forests and how to tackle beaver dams. – Beaver dams may seem to be a subordinate issue in Scandinavia, but it is indeed a topic that has an impact in the lowland Baltic countries and Poland. In Lithuania, for example, Daniel Thorell, Swedish Forest Agency: “We will develop practical tools which will helps us to reduce the negative impacts on streams, lakes and the Baltic Sea”.
*HELCOM (Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission – Helsinki Commission) is the governing body of the Helsinki Convention. 94 Scand. J. For. Res. News & Views 1 (2017) half of all the beaver ponds are regarded as damaging to drainage systems and forests. We will develop tools that classify beaver dams and give advice on best management practices. Ditch maintenance and forestry in riparian forests may have important impacts on sediment loads, nutrient leakage, and also mercury transport to surface waters. The project will focus on practical tools and guidelines for forest managers, planners and contractors based on current knowledge and experience in the participating countries.
– Maps showing distance to ground water have proved effective in reducing soil disturbance during logging. We will develop these maps, make them more accurate and adapted to more countries. Another practical deliverable will be the development of Blue Targeting, a system for classifying streams and lakes and giving specific advice depending on their condition.
– In the end, we will present a set of guidelines and tools for ditch maintenance, riparian forests and beaver dams in each country. These guidelines should serve as an inspiration for future national policies and laws, which now vary greatly between the countries, says Daniel Thorell.
Read more about the project: www.skogsstyrelsen.se (search for WAMBAF) Contact Daniel Thorell, Swedish Forest Agency, daniel.thorell@skogsstyrelsen.se