In the wake of the storms that damaged 191.5m³ of woodland throughout western Europe last year the European Forest Institute (EFI) is calling for an observatory to be set up to monitor future storm patterns.
The Institute says that, while forest owners should try to minimise the risk of storm damage through selection of suitable species for particular sites, it also acknowledges that there is a wind speed at which all trees become vulnerable.
The most important lesson, it says, is to be better prepared to face such events in the future and this, the EFI believes, could be achieved through the establishment of an observatory responsible for accumulating information from each event.
