Last week, our second annual WILDCARD meeting of took place in Freising from February 25–27, 2026. The three-day event brought together consortium partners to reflect on progress and shape the next phase of research on rewilding, forest dynamics, and climate resilience across Europe.
Hosted by Technical University of Munich, our exchange opened with field visits to the Echinger Lohe experimental site and Freising Forest, where our colleagues joined experts from the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry for an exclusive tour of a strict forest reserve, exploring long-term monitoring, nitrogen deposition impacts, ash dieback, and lasting legacies of historical land use. Our group also engaged with the WILDCARD Art Exhibition – an inspiring reminder of the importance of connecting science and society.
Back on campus, discussions focused on advances across different work streams: biodiversity and carbon monitoring, economic and policy integration, and communication and management. In dedicated modelling sessions our colleagues highlighted progress with LandClim, FlamMap, and ForClim, strengthening links between disturbance dynamics, proforestation and afforestation pathways, and large-scale scenario development. Strong emphasis was placed on harmonising dendrometric, biodiversity, soil, and remote sensing datasets, and on integrating above- and belowground processes.
The Young Researchers’ Spotlight showcased cutting-edge studies on rewilding perceptions, drought resilience in unmanaged forests, agroforestry optimisation, microbial–carbon trade-offs, LiDAR-based structural indicators, and tree-related microhabitats – demonstrating the scientific depth and interdisciplinary strength of the consortium.
The meeting concluded with strategic discussions on policy briefs, cross-WP integration, and future milestones. Together, we reaffirmed WILDCARD’s shared ambition: delivering robust, policy-relevant science to support biodiversity recovery, climate mitigation, and resilient European landscapes.