From classroom to forest: students explore sustainable forest management

Around 20 international exchange students explored forest management in practice during a visit to the Repokallio marteloscope site in Joensuu, Finland, in October 2026. The group consisted mainly of students of the international master’s programme in Environmental Science and Forestry at the University of Eastern Finland. The site visit was planned and guided by Sergey Zudin, Diana Tuomasjukka and Michael den Herder from EFI.  

Just ten minutes from the university campus, the site allowed students to step into the role of forest owners and develop their own management plans, some using mobile phones in the field. At a marteloscope site, participants practise forest management decisions by selecting which trees to retain or remove and comparing the implications of their choices.

The excursion was part of the PRUDENT project, which explores how farmers and forest owners can be encouraged to manage land more sustainably. Its Finnish case study tests whether nudges can influence decisions such as adopting continuous-cover forestry.

The Repokallio exercise tests one such nudge: information about a forest’s ecological value. One group receives this information during the exercise, while another works without it. Comparing their decisions will help the team assess whether ecological information leads to more sustainable management choices.

All students completed a forest management plan and enjoyed the outdoor session in pleasant autumn weather. The experiment will continue in spring and summer 2027, with further visits planned to marteloscope sites at Pärnävaara and Punkaharju.

Interested in learning more about marteloscopes?  

Marteloscopes are usually 1‑hectare demonstration sites where every tree is mapped and measured, enabling practical training on complex forest management decisions. The Integrate Network connects around 300 of these sites across Europe and provides the software and shared methods that allow practitioners, students, and other stakeholders to test and visualise management choices directly within the demonstration sites.

Also read our explainer “What is a marteloscope?”