Nov

Our volunteers are ready and raring to go for a new measurement campaign

Many of the 35 volunteers for Trees for FutureThe 7 newcomers in particular were present on 19 September at Sevry (Beauraing) for the traditional "intercalibration day".

The aim of this day in the field is to give volunteers a very practical explanation of how to measure plants on the experimental plots. What to measure and how? How can the health of the tree be assessed? What are the potential problems to watch out for? SRFB experts Julie Losseau and Nicolas Dassonville, accompanied by Olivier Noiret from the Observatoire Wallon de la Santé des Forêts (OWSF), used practical examples and equipped with the appropriate tools to show them how to find their way around the plot and read the marking plan, how to make observations and how to report them correctly on the observation sheet, using the correct symptom codes.

For the newcomers, these few hours in the middle of the plantations were an essential introduction, complementing a more theoretical information day organised in June at the SRFB offices in Gembloux. For the more experienced volunteers, this day was a great opportunity to refresh their knowledge and to be made aware of the potential problems in this particularly wet year of 2024.

Everyone was able to get to know each other in the forest and discover young plantations of 1 and 2 years old, where the evolution of various test species was observed: Arizona cypress, Byzantine hazelnut, hairy oak, Hungarian oak, Himalayan cedar, Atlas cedar, Corsican alder and Cephalonia fir.

Our volunteers are ready and raring to go as they work in pairs to start the new campaign of measurements in the 204 plots of Trees for Future.

Good work and good fun to them!