Hundred and ninety children from the municipality of General Toshevo took part in a lesson on forest pedagogy organized by a team of the State Forest Enterprise. Educators from Shumensko Plateau Nature Park and the Northeast State Company showed the children how to find their way in the forest, what the different types of markings mean and what the compass is used for. The older students arranged everything they thought they needed for a hike in the mountains. They had most fun during the competition for the fastest tent pitching and setting up camp after a hike.
An important part of the forest lessons are also the rules for starting a fire. The students from 3rd and 4th grade learned what they should do when they are on a picnic in the forest and want to start a fire, where it is allowed to do it and what would happen if the flames were not put out. The forest rangers showed the children what equipment they use when fighting the fire rage and demonstrated how to put out a fire with a backpack sprayer.
The children from the 1st and 2nd grades of the “Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov” Secondary School and the “Hristo Smirnenski” Primary School received as a gift the book “Tales from the Nest”, by which the forest educators introduced them in an easy-to-understand way to the life of the Lesser Spotted Eagle – how it breeds, what it uses for food and where it occurs. The kids learned with lots of fun, as they all took on the role of eaglets – building nests, incubating eggs and looking for food for the chicks, so they can grow stronger and fly south. At the end of the games each “eaglet” received a sweet surprise from the host State Forest Enterprise – General Toshevo.
The lesson on forest pedagogy and the book “Tales from the Nest” are realized thanks to the project “Conservation measures for the Lesser Spotted Eagle and its habitats in Bulgaria“, which is part of the LIFE programme of the EU. Partners in the project are EFA, BSPB, NESC and SESC. The aim of the project is to create new habitats for the Lesser Spotted Eagle, to protect the species and to preserve the biodiversity of the forests in Bulgaria.