From the practical training at the IFS woodmill in Thjorsardalur South Iceland. Screenshot from the …
From the practical training at the IFS woodmill in Thjorsardalur South Iceland. Screenshot from the video

The TreProX project held a weeklong workshop in Iceland in October 2021. The subject was wood quality and standards of wood sorting as well as methods used in maximizing the quality of timber in growing forest stands. The Icelandic Forest Service - Skógræktin has released a video about the workshop.

Members of the TreProX project are the Agricultural University of Iceland, the Icelandic Forest Service - Skógræktin (IFS), 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 comprehensive program included both lectures and field 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 both days, participants visited forests in the vicinity where representatives of the Icelandic Forest Service informed about each relevant forestry program.

On the third day of the workshop, the group moved to the capital area, starting the day at Mógilsá, the research center for the Icelandic Forest Service. There, the participants attended lectures on Icelandic forestry, the history of reforestation in Iceland as well as the main challenges facing Icelandic forestry in the future. From Mógilsá the group traveled to Heiðmörk, a municipal conservation area in the outskirts of the capital area. There, representatives from the Reykjavík Forestry Association welcomed the group and took them on a tour around the area. Afterwards, the group continued east to the municipality of 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 in the premises of the Agricultural University in Reykir. Practical exercises were carried out in Þjórsárdalur at the local premises of the Icelandic Forest Service.

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 field of production and handling of wood and timber for the aim of guaranteeing good quality in all aspects of forestry.

The Icelandic Forest Service - Skógræktin has released a video about the TreProX workshop held in October 2021.

Texti: Pétur Halldórsson