Farm walk at Johanna Marchner-Pichler

On Thursday, 27 July 2023, biodiversity ambassador Johanna Marchner-Pichler from Bad Mitterndorf hosted a farm walk on the topic of ‘How can I design forest edges ecologically?’.

11 participants, including farmers, experts from research, protected area managers and neighbours, came to see the various biodiversity measures on Johanna's farm. After a short introduction in the village, we headed straight to the mountain pasture, first by car, then on foot towards the edge of the forest.

The edges of the farm's own woodland have long been of interest to Johanna, as a woodland edge is much more than just the transition from meadow to woodland. By nature, they are not sharply demarcated, but occur as a gentle transition zone.

Forest edges have a versatile ecological function and are valuable habitats, Johanna explained, and you could immediately sense her enthusiasm for this topic. Forest edges offer protection from wind and drying out, create their own microclimate and are a habitat for numerous animals and plant species.

Insects and birds in particular like to stay at the edges of forests, as this is where they find food and places to perch. For cattle, forest edges are important shady places and retreats, which plays an important role for Johanna and her suckler cow farm.

As natural forest edges have been lost in many places, Johanna is very keen to restore this valuable habitat and plant her forest edge with shrubs. It is important to her that the forest remains economically viable, taking into account the greatest possible nature conservation measures, and is not completely taken out of use.

What sounds simple was anything but easy to realise: the planting of site-adapted shrubs took several attempts, as the plants did not want to withstand the conditions on site. Various methods were tried and discarded, patience and tinkering were required. For this reason, Johanna also refers to her forest fringe at this point as a place of origin, a crime scene and a place of development.

Johanna manages her forest with the help of femel felling. In contrast to clear-cutting, this means that only individual trees are removed and clearings are created for young growth. Femel felling can also be used to enhance or restore the forest edge. Incidentally, Johanna's forest is felled by horse, which means that no heavy machinery is used, protecting the forest floor and reviving an old tradition.

The farm walk on Johanna's farm provided lots of interesting information about forest ecology and was a great opportunity to learn about new methods for promoting biodiversity. Johanna's wealth of experience inspired the participants, and many questions about forest ecology were asked and discussed together.

At the end, there was a good snack and drinks, which brought the exciting and varied farm walk to a literally fine conclusion.