SRFB is 125 years old!
The Royal Forestry Society of Belgium is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2018. On this page you can find out all about this anniversary: history, activities and projects.
125 years of service to forests and foresters
Since 1893, La Forestière, and with it generations of foresters, have worked to promote, defend and structure the Belgian forest, actively contributing to the experiments that have advanced silvicultural techniques and responding, with varying degrees of success, to the many economic and environmental challenges that have constantly marked its path.
Throughout the year, discover the role played by La Forestière in safeguarding and developing the forest over the last 125 years:
125 years of service to forests and foresters, Silva Belgica 1/2018
125th anniversary activities
To celebrate this special anniversary, a number of special activities are being organised throughout the year. Find out more below:
20 March 2018: Film-debate «Forêt d'hier et d'aujourd'hui face aux enjeux de demain» organised in partnership with Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (ULiège)
4 May 2018: La Forestière Annual General Meeting
5 June 2018: Visit to the forest estate of SRFB founder Amédée Visart de Bocarmé
12 September 2018: Field day and drop-in conference for future/young owners «I've inherited/I'm going to inherit a forest, what do I do with it?»
23 September 2018: Public day - Forest discovery at Anzegem
19-21 October 2018: Weekend for the general public - Educational trail
«The Forest, Source of Life» at the Citadelle of Namur as part of the Festival International Nature Namur (FINN)
A network of forest arboretums for the forest of tomorrow
Forests are being affected by climate change: more severe droughts and more frequent violent winds are having a major impact on the future of our forests. The SRFB, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, is setting up a network of arboretums to help the forest adapt to tomorrow. As coordinator of the project, it is supported by a scientific committee in charge of selecting the species and provenances to be tested, and purchasing seeds from different regions of Europe and the world. This committee also draws up the installation and monitoring protocols and analyses the data collected. It is made up of five Belgian universities, as well as the Walloon Region's Department for the Study of the Natural and Agricultural Environment (DEMNA) and its Flemish counterpart INBO (Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek).
The first stage of selecting the species and provenances to be tested and drawing up the protocols will take until 2020.
Private and public landowners who so wish will then host the project on one or more plots. Each plot will have a minimum surface area of 25 ares per species or provenance tested. Intensive monitoring by a team of volunteers will take place over a period of around thirty years. This will enable the first data to be collected on this life-size test: survival rate of the species, state of health (diseases, pests), growth, development, etc. After 30 years, the intensive monitoring will become in-depth monitoring that will last until the mature trees are harvested, i.e. 50 to 100 years depending on the species and their development.
Such a project naturally requires funds to be raised. With this in mind, four philanthropic friends applied to the King Baudouin Foundation to set up the Friends of the Royal Forestry Society of Belgium Fund. The Friends of the Royal Forestry Society of Belgium Fund is managed by the King Baudouin Foundation. Donations of €40 or more per year to the Foundation benefit from a tax reduction of 45% of the amount actually paid (art. 145/33 CIR).
You can now make your donations to the Foundation's IBAN account: BE10 0000 0000 0404 with the mention «017/1930/00022».
