Forest Education Initiative North-East Cluster Newsletter April 2013 Welcome to the newsletter of the North East F.E.I. Cluster: The N.E Cluster, started in 1997, includes foresters, rangers, environmentalists, people involved in education and organisations such as Aberdeenshire Council, Forest Enterprise, Aberdeen City, National Trust for Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage. Group meetings are held about 4 times a year; dates for 2013 are provisionally 10 June (10.00 am at the Bennachie Centre) 2 September (10.30 am at the Lochinch Centre, Aberdeen) and 18 November (10,00 am at Bennachie). Everyone is welcome - confirmed dates, venues and agendae will be circulated closer to the time. If you’re interested, why not come along? Email [email protected] to be added to the contact list! Look for Forest Education Initiative on Facebook Find us on the FEI website at http://www.foresteducation.org/cluster_group/north_east_scotland/ Note from the Development Officer 2012 was another busy year for the North East Scotland FEI cluster. Some of the highlights included: Running a second Level Three OCN Forest School Leaders training course for a further 16 people from across Aberdeen city and shire. Running a careers event on jobs in the forestry sector at SAC in March which was well attended by careers teachers from Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray. Organising another successful Woodland Awareness CPD event at Aden Country Park for teachers from the Peterhead and Fraserburgh school clusters. We had not done a lot of work in this part of Aberdeen- shire before, so this was an ideal opportunity to spread the word about the FEI aims and objectives. Running a stand at TECHFEST during September. Our event was called “Build a House from a Seed” and looked at the many ways in which trees, wood and tree-derived products are used. We managed to attract 600 children during the week. The event was an excellent example of partnership working and we could not have run it without the support of the Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Ranger Services, Buchan Countryside Group, Forvie Trees and the Forestry Commission Rangers. Providing help and support for local Author Alan Crawford to edit, illustrate and publish Whispering Woods, a book of tree-stories about some of Scotland’s native trees. Looking to the future, the funding situation for the Development Officer post is uncertain, but the FEI group will continue to operate with our dedicated team of volunteers, independent environmental education professionals and Rangers. It was pleasing to be told at the FEI national networking event that the North East cluster is one of the most active groups in Scotland. We will continue to administer the Woods for Learning grants, and we will continue to support the qualified Forest School Leaders whose training we have subsidised, Our future direction will be focusing more on deliver- ing environmental CPD training to teachers and others involved in education, as this is something we are increasingly being asked to deliver. The Forest Education Initiative has ceased to exist in England and has been replaced by a new body, the Forest Education Network, this was brought about due to restructuring of the Forestry Commission down south, and FEI was no longer supported by them. At the moment FEI in Scotland and Wales continues to receive a high level of support from FC Scotland and Wales respectively and in the North East we are fortunate in being well supported by the Grampian Conservancy. Doug FEI North-East Scotland, Doig-Scott Building , Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB21 9TR 1 FEI Woods for Learning Grant helps Alford Academy Develop an Outdoor Learning Classroom By Clive Marsden, Alford Academy Many years ago Alford Academy was gifted a Forestry Plot in Murray Park, to promote an interest in Forestry careers amongst the students of the time. The plot was planted up with a mixture of conifer species by the students. One of the staff of Aberdeenshire Council’s Roads and Landscape Services department, who still lives in Alford, remembered as a pupil removing birch trees and planting conifers. In recent decades the plot has seen little use by the school, as the economics of forestry combined with the introduction of mechanisation has seen a reduction in the number of jobs in Forestry. Several years ago it was decided to use the plot as part of an outdoor activity week that the Academy run each year, and a number of improvements have been made which were aimed at improving access and encouraging the use of the plot for Outdoor Learning activities. Under the guidance of Alford Academy teachers Clive and Maria Marsden, a series of annual mini-projects have been organised. The first task was to make the area safe as there were a large number of unstable trees. These had to be felled and at the same time, an area for ‘regeneration’ and an area for a ‘classroom’ was created. A path was created to allow access to the plot, and the clearing was created to make a useful gathering and teaching space amongst the trees. This year, the school were given a small grant by the Forest Education Initiative to further develop the use of the resource. Unfortunately, the strong winds this winter meant that, as previously, the forest area had to be made safe as a number of large trees were ‘hanging’ on others. However, these formed the basis for the production of simple furniture. A cargo parachute was bought and due to the diligence and patience of one of the school technicians the hundreds of rips were repaired. This formed the ‘icing on the cake’ in terms of giving the classroom a canopy. FEI North-East Scotland, Doig-Scott Building , Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB21 9TR 2 On May 31st and June 1st, students from the Academy took part in building an outdoor teaching space. Local forestry contractor, Ben Hudson of Treelogic, a former Alford Academy pupil, brought along a portable chainsaw mill (called an Alaskan Saw) to turn windblown spruce trees into useful planks which the students used to build benches and a plank wall. Doug Gooday (FEI) came and taught fire-lighting and forest safety to small groups of students in turn whilst the rest dug holes, repaired paths and built furniture. There were different students on each of the two days. Wet and soggy on day one and warm and sunny on day two. The students had great fun being outdoors, doing something worthwhile and it provided some first-hand practical experience in using tools and team working. Interested in networking with others involved in woodland-based education? Want to meet up with others doing Forest School Leader training? NEFEI is having an informal get-together on 6 June, 4.00 pm at the Back o’Bennachie. We’ll provide the fire, bring your own food! For more information contact Doug or Katy FEI North-East Scotland, Doig-Scott Building , Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB21 9TR 3 Gordon Primary Schools Visit Huntly Meadows Woods to see Wesley the Clydesdale Horse in Action By Primary 4a and 4b Primary 4A and 4B were very lucky to be able to go down to the meadows to watch the horse logging on Thursday Nov 30th. The trip was organised by Aberdeenshire Council and the Forest Education Initiative. Over a period of 3 weeks about 155 trees had been moved from the Meadows using the traditional method of horse logging. They learnt about the importance of the woods for encouraging wildlife, the uses of the forest (for paper production and fuel) and why the forest was being thinned. The Clydesdale horse was being used to move the felled logs because it was able to fit into smaller space that a tractor wouldn’t be able to fit into. The children were able to stroke Wesley, the horse and help to feed him. Their outing was very interesting and everyone enjoyed seeing the horse and learning about logging. FEI North-East Scotland, Doig-Scott Building , Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB21 9TR 4 Inspiring People Through Nature. By Doug Gooday FEI 2013 has been designated as Year of Natural Scotland http://www.snh.gov.uk/enjoying-the- outdoors/year-of-natural-scotland-2013/ and we are all being encouraged to get outside to celebrate and enjoy the wonderful habitats and wildlife we are fortunate to have in Scotland. Biodiversity is having a hard time in Britain at the moment: our populations of marine fish, farmland birds and many insects are seriously declining and a recent report from the plant conservation charity Plantlife highlighted the rate of plant extinction in Aberdeenshire which means that we come top of the league table for plant extinctions in the UK; not an enviable position for us to be in, living and working as we do in the North East. There are several related reasons for these declines in our native flora and fauna including: current farming practices, over-fishing, climate change and air pollution. Our lifestyles and consumption patterns mean that we are all responsible so we should not place blame on any one group for these losses. No-one sets out to deliberately destroy the biodiversity on which we all depend, but through ignorance and indifference we are sleep-walking into a crisis of epic proportions. There is some good news however: the cleaning up of freshwater rivers and lakes has meant that otters are now living in every county of the UK, an incredible recovery since the low point of the late 1960s, Salmon are also returning to many rivers and the numbers of many birds of prey species are recovering to something like their pre-DDT levels.