WOODNAT was present at the II Poplar Symposium held in Valladolid (Spain) in October 17th, 18th and 19th (www.simposiodelchopo.es). Several researchers, forest managers, landowners, industry technicians and many other stakeholders from the poplar sector participated in this 3-day meeting celebrated in the Castilla-León region, where around 44,000 ha of poplar planted forests are managed (more than half of the area planted in Spain).

In this scenario, CREA and Bosques Naturales presented an oral communication regarding the experiences of CREA in Italy with polycyclic plantations mixing walnut, poplar and short rotation coppice for biomass production. For the presentation in the Congress, we also got advantage from the collaboration with Mª Ángeles Ripoll, a researcher from the IFAPA (Granada, Spain) who participates in close relation with Bosques Naturales in several research trials regarding the management of walnut planted forests in Granada either in pure and mixed planted forests with poplar.

The communication (in Spanish) has been uploaded to the ResearchGate WOODNAT site and it can be downloaded using this link [www.researchgate.net/publication/328760254_PLANTACIONES_POLICICLICAS_MIXTAS_NOGALES_CHOPOS_Y_BIOMASA_DE_ROTACION_CORTA]

In addition to this, a video recorded during the oral communication can be seen using the following link [www.simposiodelchopo.es/sites/default/files/videos/mesa_04.mp4] from minute 1:39 to 1:46.

WOODNAT was present at the IV Meeting of the Reforestation group of the Spanish Society of Forest Science which was held in Alcázar de San Juan (Spain) in October 17th, 18th and 19th in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology (https://reunionsecfaeet.es). The scope of the meeting is mainly scientific, and several research communications were presented combining more applied research projects dedicated to reforestation and some other more basic research more focused on terrestrial ecology.

In this scenario, Bosques Naturales presented an oral communication showing the field performance of the NAT 7 commercial clone in the different regions in Spain where the company owns and manages their planted forests (Galicia, Toledo, Cuenca and Girona). The data showed the results of clonal planted forests with age between 8 and 15 years old and was evaluated using the site quality classes reported by Montero and Cisneros (2006).

The communication (in Spanish) has been uploaded to the ResearchGate WOODNAT site and it can be downloaded using this link [www.researchgate.net/publication/328602076_NAT_7_BN_bosques_plantados_clonales_de_nogal_hibrido_Juglans_x_intermedia_MJ_209_para_la_produccion_sostenible_de_maderas_nobles]

In addition to this, the book of abstracts of the meeting can be downloaded from the following link [reunionsecfaeet.es/download/descarga-el-libro-de-resumenes-aqui/#]

Bosques Naturales and CREA organized a specific session dedicated to WOODNAT at the International Congress on Planted Forests 2018 celebrated in Beijing (China) (icpf2018.com), with the title “WOODNAT project: enhancing the walnut (Juglans sp.) planted forests for timber production”.

The 2 hours session focused on walnut planted forests for timber production followed the integral approach which is the base of the WOODNAT project and covered technical issues from nurseries to management of planted forests and timber market and industry. In addition to these technical issues, a first block of presentations was focused on the description of the global situation of these kinds of forests in Europe, in USA and in Chile.

In addition to the presence of the WOODNAT partners from CREA and Bosques Naturales, the session included the communications of other collaborators such as Veronica Loewe (INFOR, Chile), Douglas Jacobs (Purdue University, USA), Piero Paris (CNR-IRET, Italy) and Mª Rosa Mosquera (USC, Spain).

The communications have been uploaded to the ResearchGate WOODNAT site and it can be downloaded using this link [https://www.researchgate.net/project/Second-generation-of-planted-hardwood-forests-in-the-EU-WOODnat]

After the Congress, Bosques Naturales participated in the International Workshop for Heads of Forest Research Institutions entitled “Forest Research in Response to Climate Change” organized by the Chinese Academy of Forestry Science who organized an event for the celebration of their 60^th Anniversary: Congratulations!!