Forest workshops with the wolves!

In May and June, our foundation is implementing its original project “Get to know the forest beyond the fence – environmental education of elementary school students”, funded by the ORLEN Foundation (a grant under the My Place on Earth program). In cooperation with the Suchedniów Forestry Commission, we organize a series of field workshops for children in the most beautiful corners of the Świętokrzyska Forest, preceded by wolf lessons at school.

As part of the project, each participating class takes part in one lesson about the forest and its inhabitants. During the meeting, the head of the wolf project, Roman Gula, introduces the children to the forest theme, showing the most interesting photos and recordings from our project. He tells about wolves and other animals that live in our neighborhood, and what to do in case of encountering them.

The next stage is a field trip to the vicinity of Świnia Góra and the Dalejów Nature Reserve, led by our naturalists headed by Roman Gula and Jacek Major, with the steadfast support of Ms. Ania Wojkowska-Klata from the Suchedniów Forest District. During the approximately 2-3 hour walk, kids and their teachers get to know the forest and learn how to behave properly in it. How to distinguish a spruce from a fir? What creatures can be found in a forest puddle? Who leaves five-fingered tracks? Children learn about the dangers of trash abandoned in the forest, and collect it in a bag carried by caregivers. By the end of the first walk, the bag was almost full of trash found along the way!

A few words about wolves

The forest workshop is also an opportunity to learn a lot of interesting information about wolves, which our foundation has been studying in the Świętokrzyska Forest region for many years. Finding wolf poop is an opportunity to talk about what wolves feed on and show children what the work of a field biologist looks like. Students have the opportunity to identify and tag the droppings themselves, while learning how to use a GPS, and also try their hand at tracking a live wolf using a telemetry antenna!

At the end of the field part, a bonfire awaits the participants in the Forestry Classroom of the Suchedniów Forest District, where, in the shade of the trees surrounding this charming place, kids have the opportunity to roast various delicacies on the fire and rest after the walk.

At the end

So far, we have already held several lessons and workshops to which we took students and teachers from Elementary School No. 3 in Suchedniów, and we are slowly completing the project. During the forest walks we were fortunate with the weather, which was warm and sunny, and all the participating classes bravely overcame the beautiful, but at the same time sometimes difficult and marshy terrain, absorbing knowledge about nature and ecology.

Without you, we would not have succeeded!

• Thank you very much to the Suchedniów Forest District for supporting our activities and providing access to the Forest Classroom, and especially to Forest Supervisor Piotr Fitas and Ms. Anna Wojkowska-Klata, education specialist, who persistently supported us during most of the workshops and shared her knowledge of forestry with the children. Thank you and we look forward to further joint projects!
• We would also like to thank Ms. Renata Wikło, deputy director of the Stefan Żeromski Elementary School No. 3 in Suchedniów, for excellent cooperation in the implementation of lessons and workshops for school students!

• And finally, we would like to thank the ORLEN Foundation, without which the project would not exist at all! We are grateful for selecting our idea from among many others and granting us the funds necessary to implement it.

Author: Joanna