Future Forest Monitoring (FutMon)

Probos coordinated the Dutch part of the European project Future Forest Monitoring (FutMon www.futmon.org). FutMon is the sequel to the Forest Focus Measurements in which the Netherlands took part from the beginning and that is being financed by the LIFE+ program.

The goal of FutMon is to bring the vitality of European Forests into a sharper focus and to check whether it improves or declines. In this context, data have been gathered on 16 sample points in the Netherlands. On these 16 sample points Silve (since 2020 part of Probos) determined the crown condition during 2009 and 2010 and in 2010 FLORON mapped the forest floor vegetation. Five sample points were measured intensively by ECN in 2009 and during the entirety of 2010 ECN recorded which deposition took place and collected meteorological data. Additionally, during the same period Alterra (now Wageningen Environmental Research, WEnR) measured the composition of soil moisture of these five sample points. In 2010 the dbh (diameter at breast height) of the trees on these sample points were determined by Silve to establish their growth over time. The results were reported by Probos to the Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut in Hamburg that coordinates the FutMon project.

On November 15^th 2010 a meeting took place at the Gegevensautoriteit Natuur (Data Authority Nature) as part of the Dutch FutMon activities. During the meeting, the results of more than 15 years of monitoring the effects of air pollution on the vitality of the Dutch forest were presented. During 2009 and 2010 the data had been collected in the context of the LIFE+ project “Further Development and Implementation of an EU-level Forest Monitoring System (FutMon)”. This meant that it was possible to show the development of forest vitality and the influence of anthropogenic and natural stress factors over a period of more than 15 years.

Information

Expert(s) involved: Jan Oldenburger & Jaap van den Briel
Client(s): Ministerie van Agriculture, Food Security and Nature via the Gegevensautoriteit Natuur
Year(s): 2009 - 2011

Results (Dutch only)

presentations MEETING 15 november 2010:

• IPC forest monitoring in Nederland
  Wim de Vries, Alterra
• Depositiemetingen
  Albert Bleeker, ECN
• Boomvitaliteit en groei
  Jan Oldenburger, Probos
• Bodemvochtkwaliteit en element budgetten
  René Rietra, Alterra

report:

• FutMon activiteiten in Nederland in 2009 en 2010
  december 2011