Y4Trees Staff Training Report

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for Y4Tree Project LTTA Staff Training Meeting in UK

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Aim - To train staff in ways of enabling young people to explore, experience, and engage with trees, forests, and wood products in terms of both entrepreneurship and campaigning.

Venue: Susted, Brewery House, High Street, Ketton (next to Northwick Arms) PE9 3TA

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Participants

UK – Adam Cade and Mary Cade

Spain - Marta Nuero Aristizabal and Georgina Bartroli

Portugal - Conceicao Colaco and Gabriel Da Silva

Poland - Michal Orzechowski and Wojciech Kedziora

 

Day 0 – Sat Sept 4

 

All the participants arrived safely on Saturday night. Adam and Mary Cade, from Susted, hosted the training event and welcomed all participants. We had a welcome meal at Brewery House. The Spanish and Portugese participants stayed at Brewery House and the Polish participants had accommodation at Redwings Lodge, Morcott.

 

Day 1 - Sun Sept 5

 

We visited the state-run Fineshade Wood as a way of introducing participants to the variety and characteristics of English woodlands. Barrie and Trisha Galpin were our guides to Fineshade Wood. They also introduced us to a planned landscape partnership project called Rockingham Forest Vision, which would involve local young disadvantaged adults, community groups and schoolchildren. All the woodland footpaths showed that wheelchairs could access the whole forest. Families with children were also to follow the Gruffalo trail while cyclists were able to follow various grades of cycle paths. The recreation provision of the forest provided trails and routes for many different users.

 

Lunch was provided at the franchised cafe at the Fineshade visitor centre. We met and discussed their work with two recreation staff from Forestry England – the state forestry organisation. About 90% of its income is from business activity – sale of timber, licences eg. shooting, franchises to café, art gallery, bike shop with cycle hire, Tindersticks forest school education, and car parking fees etc. We discussed the potential for more visitor services, guided walks and talks. We also visited the gallery of Fermyn Woods Contemporary Art with its environmental theme based on how ironstone has moulded the local landscape, industry and culture.

 

In the afternoon we visited Easton Hornstock National Nature Reserve, managed by Natural England, the state conservation organisation. Susted staff are volunteer coppicers with a coppice group. Peter Lloyd-Bennett, a volunteer with the Coppice group, introduced us to coppicing small-leaved lime. The participants learned how to fell lime poles safely. These were loaded on a trailer to be used as tipi poles.

 

Discussion

How to hook youth - Problem - Young adults do not see forestry as a career, or have practical experience of handling timber or managing trees.

• Include digital technology to activities

• Through peers

• Challenges eg. Survival with many TV programmes big viewing numbers, foraging, Danish shelter, camping overenight

• Games – Predator- Prey game of Concecao.

• Sports and recreation eg. Cycle tour, geocaching, peddy paper (follow clues)

• Art, craft

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How to explain that deadwood is good for biodiversity – Problem – Deadwood is seen as untidy and a sign of poor management.

• Show and explain the invertebrates under rotting logs, bracket fungi on trees.

 

How to explain the need to manage trees and woodland – Problem – People think woodlands should not need management.

• Need to destroy nature to conserve it - cutting, felling, managing for conservation.

• Describe the past, present and scenarios for the future of a visited woodland.

 

How to describe and consider forestry – Problem – The public may view it as just growing a monoculture of conifers for timber. It needs to be considered differently:

• Holistic way – Problem of just looking at a single aspect eg. production, biodiversity.

• Questioning way - Problem of educating with fixed ideas.

• Respectful way – Problem of disconnection with nature and woodlands. Need to be empathetic to the forest.

• Inclusive way – Problem of considering all the stakeholders in forestry – foresters, visitors, neighbours, end users of timber, conservationists.

 

• • Value of conifers for home-grown timber construction rather than imports.

  • Value of clearings, glades and rides for the diverse structure and biodiversity of the woodland.

  • Value of walk and talk, as we did with our guides through Fineshade Wood.

 

Day 2 - Mon Sept 6

 

We started the day by considering the aim and programme for the meeting. We also did some basic orientation and admin for the staff training course – signed list of participants, travel evidence, and volunteering/staff employment evidence.

Student evidence, Competencies, including Youthpass

 

Session 1 – Using the Activity Sheets

The participants were introduced to the Youthpass youth competencies in terms of the project, and especially the 22 draft Activity Sheets. One of the main parts of the staff training was to use and review the Activity Sheets. Comments were added to each of the printed Activity Sheets so they could be edited after the meeting.

 

Session 2 - Zoom meeting with the Royal Forestry Society, Becky Wilkinson

The session looked at the wide range of education, training and apprenticeship programmes of the RFS.

• Basic woodland education programme for primary school pupils called Teaching Trees. These are free woodland learning sessions to children and training for teachers in schools who need it most.

• Junior Forester Award - gives children and young people an insight into a career in Forestry as well as the practical ability to assist in woodland management in their schools and local communities.

• Forestry Roots – Apprenticeships matching college and university leavers with employers

• University transfer course

• Careers in forestry website guidance

 

Zoom meeting with Woodland Trust Tree Charter, Zara Holden and Karen Letten

This session looked at a wide range of education and community initiatives which can engage young people.

Zara Holden introduced the Tree Charter as a set of 10 principles to save,protect and plant trees spurred by the potential sell-off of state forests about 10 years ago. She described the principles in three categories – Protecting trees, Planting trees, and Inspiration from trees.

Karen Letten introduced the Young People’s Forest and suggested that we could contact Emily Moore, Youth Developoment Project Officer, for some case study text. The Woodland Trust does not have a youth policy but has a very strong school education programme that includes youth and is also relevant for youth work.

The Schools Programme is used by 13,000 schools. It is now open to secondary schools and FE colleges. Key Stage 3 resources will be online later this month. The programme includes a Green Trees School Award which fits with the Ecoschools Programme. There is also a Tree Tools for Schools interactive game to locate the right tree in the right place at the right time. The Tree Tools for Schools website containing loads of resources that you and your partners may find useful Tree Tools for Schools – Woodland Trust.

The participants were very impressed with the range of activities of the Woodland Trust. We will follow up by contacting Emily Moore to help us draft a case study on the Young People's Forest based on the examples here. We will also try to draft a case study of The Tree Charter. We also aim to develop some practical activities related to each of the ten principles of the Tree Charter. Perhaps these could be promoted on the Tree Charter blog or social media.

 

Session 3 - Ketton Tree Trail, Identification and tree uses, Hilary Allison, Jemma Cuthbert

Jemma introduced the participants to her work with the Royal Forestry Society while Hilary introduced her new work for The Forestry Commission. We chatted about trees and forests as we walked around the Ketton Tree Trail. Our partners were really interested in the wide-ranging discussion as we sat on the grass in glorious sunshine. We all agreed that forestry needs to change its image and improve its appeal to young adults across Europe, as well as the future importance of both producing good quality home-grown timber and enriching woodland biodiversity. These themes recurred throughout the staff training sessions.

 

Day 3 – Tues Sept 7

 

Session 4 – Visit Nene Coppicing and Crafts, Castor Hanglands NNR, Mike Sweeney and Andrew Nash

Our visit to Nene Coppicing and Crafts was organised at short notice. Everyone thought it was very inspiring. Andrew described The Polish partners are now thinking of developing a funded European partnership coppicing project involving seniors who support young adults. The Spanish and Portugese partners also learned a lot very quickly about the value, management and use of coppice.

We discussed how monitoring and recording in the coppice coups could be developed – at the simplest using fixed point photography. After the visit the participants were shown the excellent TCV Woodland Handbook with its practical guide to coppicing and coppice crafts. Joining the TCV community (currrently free) gives community and volunteer conservation groups the opportunity to buy for about £10 access to the Conservation Handbooks.

It would be good to develop a small informal network of coppicers and bushcraft expertise that could then support and train young disadvantaged people as part of the Rockingham Forest Vision project. This could include Gary Archer and the Launde wood coppicers with Leic and Rutland WT.

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Session 5 – Interview by Zoom with Dez Dell about the Weekley Hall Wood Campaign

We were unable to meet Dez due to technical problems but looked at the range of promotional material developed for the local campaign to save Weekly Hall Wood. A week before this meeting Dez and about 300 local people heard discussion by Councillors about the proposed development of the wood.

 

Session 6 – Visit Corby woodland groups, Rebecca Jenkins, North Northamptonshire Council

We met at East Carlton Park which is one of the bases for the Woodland Project in Corby, for which Rebecca is the Woodland Manager. She introduced us to the woodland project in Corby where there are six Friends of woodland groups. The Corby woodlands - Hazelwood and Thoroughsale Woods – are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) with some legal protection. They have been awarded European Green Flag Award for their woodland management by volunteers. She described the plan to develop a tree nursery and three 30 ft. polytunnels on Andy and Lyndon’s farm at Middleton. No budget yet for this yet so it may be developed for the Rockingham Forest Vision project.

 

We discussed opportunities for youth enterprise experiences – Deer butchery, dugout canoe, woodchipping, Aveland tree nursery, and timber yard. These could be developed for the Rockingham Forest Vision project. We also discussed the problem of the public concern for felling trees and suggested that it could be lessened by introducing people to growing and managing trees. In this connection we also considered the need to promote the use of appropriate conifers (right species planted in the right place) for house construction etc – as a better, carbon soaking alternative to steel, glass and concrete.

The participants described community forests in Spain, Portugal and Italy and referred to FAO publications /projects on community forests. They could be a way of introducing young adults to land for small-scale forestry enterprise. In a similar way the Mersey Forest team has developed an online hub for wood allotments in their region. On their website, woodallotments.com, potential "allotmenteers" are able to browse existing wood allotments and contact the landowner, or suggest where they would like to see new wood allotments, helping to build up a map of demand.

 

Day 4 – Wed Sept 8

 

Session 7 – Using the Activity Sheets

We continued to carry out and review the 22 Activity Sheet and how these might fit in the Youth for Trees Guide.

 

We also looked at the 10 Tree Charter principles in terms of youth activities:

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1 Enriching nature with Trees

as a key part of a web of life

Recording and conserving wildlife of woodlands

2 Planting Trees

as new growth and new trees

Planning, Growing, Planting Trees

3 Celebrating Trees

as inspiration and the focus of an issue

Identifying trees, Campaigning to protect trees and against deforestation

4 Working with Trees

as the subject of study and work

Finding education and training, Understanding jobs and career opportunities

5 Conserving old Trees

as heritage

Recording and protecting old trees and woodland, against felling for development

6 Planning Trees near people

as a key part of local plans

Engaging local people with local trees, community/ neighbourhood projects

7 Using Trees for people

as a usable resource for humans

Growing and using trees for food, health, foraging, fruit and nut trees, timber, spoon carving etc. Agroforestry

8 Making Trees accessible

as found and contacted

Producing tree trails and interpretation, posters, adverts

9 Keeping Trees healthy

as food and a host for other organisms

Identifying pest and diseases, protecting young trees

10 Using Trees for environmental management

as indicators of change

Measuring carbon value of trees

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General

Setting up a tree group

Raising and making money for the group

Planning and carrying out projects with the group

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We looked at a range of references:

• Tree Charter Student research

• Guide to forestry-based entrepreneurship

• TCV Woodland Handbook

 

Session 8 – Evaluation of staff training event

 

We developed an Action plan for the project based on the staff training. Our evaluation of the training was based on the same evaluation form as for the Transnational Partner Meetings so we could compare with them.

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Action Plan for Y4Tree Project LTTA Staff Training Meeting in UK

Aim - To train staff in ways of enabling young people to explore, experience, and engage with trees, forests, and wood products in terms of both entrepreneurship and campaigning.

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• Email thanks to hosts and participants, plus the report

  • Barrie and Trisha Galpin

  • Dez Dell

  • Jemma Cuthbert

  • Hilary Allison

  • Rebecca Jenkins

  • Becky Wilkinson

  • Karen Letten

  • Zara Holden

  • Andrew Nash and Mike Sweeney

• Send Concecao the template for the Volunteer agreement.

Guide

• Design of Guide

• 2 columns, narrow margins and 10 pt. Font.

• Max. of 2 images per page

• Numbered sections, clickable sections to numbered page

• Hyperlinks within the text and then full website or link repeated at end of Guide.

• Guide contains links to all Case Studies and Activity Sheets

• First leading page with

  • photo(s),

  • Y4T project logo,

  • website address,

  • publication title,

  • date

• Second page with

  • 5 partner logos,

  • Contributors (all who attended TPMs),

  • Copyright free text and logo,

  • EC disclaimer,

  • Section headings and clickable page number.

• Copyright free. Text and logo added - You are free to share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format & adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. 

• EC disclaimer added – This project is supported by funding from the EU Erasmus + Strategic Partnership programme of the European Commission. This publication/ communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held.

• Add a sub-section on National forest education publications to Part 1 of the Guide.

  • Portugal

  • Spain

  • UK

  • Poland

  • FAO online conference, and the Forestra online portal of forest education for mid 2022.

  • EU projects like PAWS – Leonardo project of 2009 led by German partners, with partners in PT, DE, AU, ES, IT, GK, CY. 50 foresters trained by Concecao. Developed into PAWSMED.

  • Project Learning Tree

  • Australian and Moldova publications

• Add agroforestry Handbook and Apple and Orchard Guide to G Drive.

• Add a sub-section to Part 1 of Guide on 1) poor image of forestry 2) future of forestry and need for skilled young people.

 

Activity Sheets

• Consider categorising the Activity Sheets using some of the 12 learning approaches from the Portugese publication. Use some of the 12 sections from the Portugal Forest Education publication by Concecao to categorise the sections of the Guide or the Activity Sheets.

  • Sensing, Playing, Emotions, Fa\ntasy and magic, Artistic, Storytelling, Scientific, Conceptual, Promotional, Ecocitizens, Problem-solving, Project work.

• Possibly draft some new Activity Sheets:

  • Managing fire

  • Coppicing

  • Making rope from Lime bast

  • Making and using charcoal

  • Making coppice products

  • Making a dugout canoe

  • Exploring deadwood – fungi, bracket fungi, inverts and insects under bark

  • Sawing and splitting wood

  • Making a tipi

  • Using elder – multiple uses

• Send details of EVS/ ES Corps to partners and Erasmus + funding.

• Add background science etc. to Activity Sheets in corresponding part of the Guide.

 

Case studies

• Draft case studies:

  • Tree Charter

  • Danish or youth shelters

  • Young People’s Forest, ref. by Karen Letten

 

New Erasmus + Project

• Send partners background to Erasmus +, with statistics on success, numbers, etc.

• Invite Erasmus + Polish national agency for one hour presentation and discussion to Nov TPM in Warsaw. Send contact details to Wojciech.

• Send link to Apple and Orchard Guide for details of press etc.

 

TPMs

• Draft programme for Polish TPM – Tuesday 16th Nov – sightseeing. 17/ 18- two half-day field visits (Celestynow forest with visitor centre and Natolin protected forest), YPEF for UK and Spain, New Erasmus + projects – Youth and seniors, Tropical forestry in Europe, Agroforestry.

• 3 nights stay in SGGW university @ about 40 Euros/ night with breakfast and lunch in the canteen and then evening meals in restaurants.

• Portugese TPM – Sat 26 and Wed 30 Mar – travel days. Sun 27 Mar – ASPEA field visits:

  • Park of Monsanto, urban 20th century urban buffer zone of 1000 há. With visitor centre. By rented bikes to see ecologicla corridors across the city. Talk with manager.

  • Botanic garden next to Monsanto built for kings with lots of environmental education, belonging to Univ. of Lisboa.

  • Tapada da Dajuda forest of 100 há.

  • Tapada da Mafra old king’s ground with deer and boar. 800 há. Tapada = agriculture and forest surrounded by a wall.

 

YPEF

Organise Zoom call on YPEF with Polish partners, Royal Forestry Society and Woodland Trust

Talked to Woodland Trust and the Royal Forestry Society about their possible coordination and partnership with the YPEF representing the UK.

European Committee meets soon to plan YPEF 2022. National in Spring 2022. Finals in Sept 2022. 4/5 days for 3 young 15-19 year olds plus teacher including travel.