About us

Marek Zakrzewski

Marek was born in 1966 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He attended a high school specialized in the field of forestry. Subsequently, he studied agronomy and forest sciences in Bydgoszcz and Warsaw. He graduated in 1995 from the university of Freiburg (Germany). After his studies he founded FOREM International. The company soon developed from a forestry planning office into an internationally active consultancy in the field of natural resources management. His experiences during his expert assignments abroad are appreciated more and more. Currently, he focuses on the certification of nature products coming from the global South. His motto: Goods that are produced in the global South under bad conditions should not be sold in the global North as good products. Consequently, he is annually conducting around 100 audits according to FSC® and PEFC™ chain-of-custody standards.

SYLVICULTURAL SURVEYS

FOREM International conducts sylvicultural surveys regularly:

• Permanent and temporary forest inventories on sample basis

• Assessments of forest condition

• Expertise of browsing and bark stripping damages

• Expertise of damage caused by game

• Assessment of provenience trials

Please contact us for more forestry services via telephone.

MAINTENANCE OF BIOTOPES

In the past, rare plant species got favorable living conditions due to extensive browsing by livestock. Intensive utilization and abandoning of meadows force us to improve the conditions for certain species actively. The environmentally sound maintenance means often work in environmental conservative areas, a high degree of identification with conservation goals and particularly hard manual labour. Prior to the mowing of orchid meadows the area is surveyed expertly. Here, areas with a high abundance of the rare plants are marked because they are spared by the first mowing. After the mowing, the swath is often spread by hand on the edges of the orchid meadows. After a few years, the orchid enthusiast can already enjoy the results of his work.

DAMAGES CAUSED BY GAME

It is seldom, that a financial compensation is applied for damages caused by game in the forest. The reason for this can be found in our legal system for hunting and forestry. Persons, who are accounted for damages by game are often also the ones who verify the damages and costs. FOREM International offers neutral expertise for damages caused by game, which is not biased by forestry or hunting interests.

REFERENCES

ZAKRZEWSKI, M.(1997): Browsing damage by hare on beech shoots in underplanting in the context of conversion of weak spruce stands into hardwood rich mixed forests. Federal forestry office Titisee-Neustadt, 8 pages. The portion of spruce stand shall be reduced from 50% to 30% in the future. The portion of Beech shall be increased up-to 21% (from12%). While the browsing of planted beeches by hoofed game can be reduced by intensified shooting, the browsing damage by hare has great importance for the development of underplanting.

In the state forest at Hinterzarten (Feldberg area, southern Black Forest) the condition of beech cultures was surveyed with special consideration of the browsing damage by hare. The results show that the browsing damage by hare results in high damages, on 5 of 9 areas higher than 50%. ZAKRZEWSKI, M. (2001): Damage caused by roe deer in forestry cultures in the community forest Iffezheim. Municipality of Iffezheim, 33 pages.

On behalf of the municipality of Iffezheim in the Upper Rhine region a survey of the damage caused by roe deer (browsing and bark stripping) in three hunting districts has been conducted. Therefore, an inventory sampling technique for two persons has been developed for the forestry cultures. The projection of the samples produced a loss of around 25% of the planted trees. Lime, beech and cherry were the tree species damaged most, all with over 60%.

WILDLIFE BIOLOGY

FOREM is familiar with forests and other land uses worldwide. In our long lasting history, we have worked on several continents and gained experience in the field of wildlife biology. The catch of game is the beginning of every legitimate game biology project. Position-fixing of game with the help of radio transmitters or GPS are modern methods, we are experienced in.

We have major experience with the (life) catch of hair, fox, wild boar, roe deer, capercaillie, hazel grouse and ptarmigan and marking of several other animal species around the globe. The data derived by telemetry were processed for several publications.