Diverse and clean forests- successful bioeconomy (KA5002)
Funded by Karelia CBC 2014-2020

Objective of the project

Increasing knowledge and awareness on the environmental factors controlling yields and health-promoting compounds of non-wood forest products (NWFP; berries and other valuable plant species) during the life cycle of managed forests.

Main activities

• Producing NONWOOD PACKAGE, and audiovisual information package summarizing current expertise knowledge and results including: - Criteria and indicators to describe properties of forests having high potential to produce NWFP - Guidelines for collection of NWFP - Yield models to describe production potential of bilberry and lingonberry - Recommendations on how to manage forests in order to reconcile production of NWFP with timber production - Maps presenting locations of areas with potential for high yields of forest berries and other valuable plant species - Information on conditions bringing highest contents of health promoting compounds in bilberries and lingonberries • Analyzing the effect of environmental conditions and forest management regimes on selected NWFP using existing joint dataset from both Finnish and Russian side of the programme region. • Validating the Finnish berry yield models to Russian side. - carring out berry yield surveys on the Russian side and correspondence analysis of site type classification in Finland and in Russia - estimating yield potentials of other selected NWFP by field measurements and models. • Locating potential hot spots for high yields of forest berries (bilberry, lingonberry) and other selected plant species, the most promising species being fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium, maitohorsma), heather (Calluna vulgaris, kanerva), crowberry (Empetrum nigrum, variksenmarja), and marsh tea (Ledum palustre, suopursu). • Determining the variation of health promoting components in bilberry and lingonberry in relation to tree stand and site characteristics.

Achievements