FEM-20909 Forest and Nature Conservation II - Management Planning and Tools

Course

Credits 9.00

Language of instruction:

Dutch

Assumed knowledge on:

FEM-22306

Continuation courses:

FNP-30306

Contents:

The aim of the practical is to acquire a broad understanding of the effects of management interventions on the functioning of ecosystems. This understanding forms the basis on which the use of management tools and (vegetation) treatments can be planned and designed in relation to specific goals that need to be achieved. These treatments involve grazing, hydrological interventions, mowing, thinning, planting, etc. With this knowledge as a background, a general planning process will be applied to a specific natural area where different goals are to be met. This planning process includes the use of decision support systems like Multi Criteria Evaluation Analyses, Land Evaluation en Yield Regulation. The final two weks of the practical will take place outside Wageningen.

Learning outcomes:

After this course students will be able to:
- summarise the major management problems in the N.W.European forest and conservation sites and their causal factors and ecological processes;
- describe the characteristics and ecological effects of the major management interventions in vegetation and ecohydrology;
- synthesise a suitable strategy for specific site problems or objectives by integrating hydrological and vegetation management measures;
- design a specific set of forest management interventions to manage the major forest types for the provision of goods and services;
- describe the properties and nature of forest and nature management organisations and the role of planning within these organisations;
- provide a critical assessment of the possibilities and limitations of planning at all different levels in forest and nature management organizations;
- apply different planning techniques in forest and nature management;
- design a management plan for a forest and nature management organization.

Activities:

Attending lectures and excursions, conducting inventories and interpreting of field data (using different techniques in statistical analysis), performing literature, archive studies, and scenario studies (e.g. MCA), producing a management plan and defend this for an audience.

Examination:

During the whole process you will receive marks for individual and group activities and products. At the end there is an assessment where you work out questions related to a management plan case. Together they will be aggregated into a final mark.

Literature:

A workbook for the practical will be for sale on the first day.