The Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) approach combines uneven-aged forest management with mixed tree species. It is based on an ecosystemic and integrative perspective of forest management, aiming to support the maintenance, conservation, and use of forests in their full multifunctionality.

This approach relies on several principles, such as the permanent maintenance of continuous forest cover (no clear-cutting), the mixing of tree species, the protection of rare species, etc. These principles may vary slightly depending on the specific context of each country but generally rely on understanding, applying, and respecting the natural dynamics of forest ecosystems, with economic, environmental, and social objectives in mind.

More broadly, CCF aims to foster the resilience of forest ecosystems—an essential challenge in the face of climate change—so that healthy, multifunctional forests can be passed on to future generations.

Marteloscopes and travailloscopes are educational tools designed to train learners in the CCF approach. They allow participants to evaluate, under real forest conditions, the impact of their interventions (tree marking or silvicultural works) on target stands..

Concretely, a marteloscope is a forest stand, usually a one-hectare rectangular plot, where all trees are numbered, mapped, and measured. A dedicated application analyzes the learner’s virtual tree marking and shows the consequences of their choices regarding tree cutting/conservation. The learner also receives educational feedback designed to improve their understanding of the key principles of tree marking under CCF.

A travailloscope is a forest stand dedicated to carrying out natural regeneration works under CCF. Different regeneration situations are identified and described on site beforehand. The learner is invited to diagnose these situations and propose appropriate silvicultural operations. The application then evaluates the relevance of the learner’s choices in light of each situation’s characteristics. It provides an opportunity to better understand, refine, and improve diagnosis and recommended silvicultural operations under CCF.

These practical training workshops allow learners, individually or in groups, to practice directly in the field, assess results, compare them, and engage in discussion.

As part of the ForDiL project, three sites equipped with tree marking plots and silvicultural training plots have been developed—one per partner country:

• Belgium, Lauzelle forest

• France, Mormal forest

• Czech Republic, Forest Entreprise