Tomáš Vrška has been awarded by the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency for his initiative in forest management. Photo credit: MENDELU.
Brno, Feb 6 (BD) – The Masaryk Křtiny Forest School and its director Tomáš Vrška have received an award from the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency (AOPK ČR) in the initiative category, for developing principles of forest management close to nature in theory and practice.
The AOPK ČR awards were given out for the fifth time this year, at the “Selected problems of our nature and landscape” conference, as is traditional. Professor Bedřich Moldan won in the Personality category for his extensive pedagogical, journalistic, political, and diplomatic activities in the field of the environment.
The prizes were presented by Kateřina Černý Pixová, vice dean of the Faculty of Environment at the Czech University of Life Sciences, and František Pelc, director of AOPK ČR.
“Tomáš Vrška has been promoting gentle and nature-friendly forest management for a long time. It is unique in that it can combine scientific knowledge with practice, as can be clearly seen in his current work as manager of the Masaryk Forest in Křtiny,” explained Pelc. “This strategy of forest management is focused on the adaptation of forests to climate change when their diversity gradually increases, both in the composition of tree species and in the fact that there are trees of different ages in a diverse structure. Natural forest regeneration accounts for more than 50% of total regeneration.”
Read more: Brno Daily’s interview with Tomáš Vrška from July 2022.
“The ŠLP award is primarily an award for our entire team,” added Vrška. “Because changing something in the forest is always connected with the creation of a vision, which is followed by practically applied instructions on how to use this or that management model. And then you need educated and thoughtful colleagues in the forests and forest areas, skilled, experienced, and responsible forest workers who will finally make it happen.”
The AOPK ČR prize is awarded based on the recommendation of the AOPK ČR Council, in order to draw attention to interesting personalities or initiatives which help improve the state of the natural world.
