What does a “healthy” forest look like? Journalists invited to investigate
What if a forest that looks dead is actually the beginning of something new?
On 1 October 2026, we invite journalists to travel to Czechia to investigate how Europe’s forests are changing — and to question some of the assumptions we have about what a healthy forest should look like.
Across Central Europe, forests are being transformed by bark beetle outbreaks, powerful windstorms and prolonged drought. The result can be dramatic: vast areas of damaged or dead trees that appear, at first glance, to be landscapes of destruction.
But the story may be more complicated.
Some disturbed forests are becoming the starting point for new ecosystems. And as climate change alters forests across Europe, researchers and forest managers are reconsidering a fundamental question: Should we intervene — or let nature take its course?
Get into the forest
As part of a study trip at the SDA Velká Bíteš site in Czechia, participants will walk through forests affected by bark beetle outbreaks and see first-hand how different management approaches are shaping the landscape.
Some areas have been clear-cut, while others have been left to regenerate naturally. The trip brings journalists directly into conversation with researchers, forest managers and local stakeholders, offering opportunities to ask questions, challenge assumptions and develop potential stories.
Topics will include:
• What actually happens to a forest after a major disturbance?
• Are bark beetle outbreaks always a sign of forest degradation?
• What can naturally regenerating forests tell us about the future?
• How is climate change changing the way European forests are managed?
• How can journalists explain environmental change when there is no simple story or single solution?
A reporting opportunity — not just a study visit
The aim is not to present one definitive answer about how forests should be managed. Instead, the study trip offers an opportunity to encounter competing perspectives, examine the evidence and hear directly from people dealing with these changes on the ground. Journalists will have access to experts, potential interviewees, first-hand reporting experience and story ideas at the intersection of climate change, science and society.
The event is organised by the European Forest Institute (EFI) in collaboration with the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU) and local partners as part of the EFI-coordinated TRANSFORMIT project.
Travel funding is available to support participation, including for freelance journalists — we only need a short email why you are interested. Reach out to gesche.schifferdecker[AT]efi.int for more information.