The TreProX project held a weeklong workshop on 10.-16th of October. The subject was wood quality and standards of wood sorting as well as methods used in maximizing the quality of timber in forests while they are growing. Members of the project are The Agricultural University of Iceland, the Icelandic Forest Service, Tretaekniradgjof sfl, the Linnaeus University (Sweden) and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark).
40 participants joined the workshop from Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New-Zealand, Nepal and China. The program was varied and included both lectures and study trips to interesting locations. The first 2 days were spent in Borgarfjordur in western Iceland. Lectures were held in Hvanneyri, the main campus of the Agricultural University of Iceland. In the afternoon on both days the participants wisited forests in the wicinity. There representatives from the Icelandic Forest Service informed about the forestation program in each location.
On the third day of the workshop the group moved to the capital area and started the day at Mógilsá. At Mógilsá is the research centre for the Icelandic Forest Service. There the participants had lectures on Icelandic forestry, the history of reforestation in Iceland and on the main challenges facing forestry in the future. From Mógilsá the group travelled to Heiðmörk, a municipal conservation area of Reykjavík. There representatives from the Reykjavík Forestry Association welcomed the group and took them on a tour of the area. Afterwards the group continued east to Ölfus where they spent the night.
The last two days of the workshop the participants had a course in commercial grading of timber. The theoretical part was held at the Agricultural University in Reykir. The practical exercises were held in Þjórsárdalur at the Icelandic Forest Service’s center of operations.
In general, it can be said that the subject of this workshop was forestry from seed to plank. Now that many Icelandic forests are fully grown it becomes more and more important to educate people in the production and handling of wood and timber so that good quality can be guaranteed in all aspects of forestry.
The organization of the workshop successful and the participants were very happy with their visit to Iceland. The following workshops will be held in Sweden in June 2022 and in Denmark in September 2022.
