Johanna Poikelispää, Executive Director of Kihniö 4H, has been involved in organising the forest day events for many years. “I think this is the fourth forest day I’ve participated in,” says Poikelispää, who spent the day with seventh graders from the Kihniö coeducational school.
“These events are very educational. Building young people’s relationship with the forest is an important part of the educational work that the 4H does, and I think it’s important that these forest days continue in the future.”
The aim of the Forest Day events is to strengthen young people’s relationship with the forest and to take a look at Finnish forests and their uses together. Waypoints with tasks help young people think about the uses and importance of forests, the carbon cycle, the life-cycle of wood products and what constitutes a carbon sink.
“The activities were nice, and the route was a good length. The students were able to listen to the introductions and concentrate on the tasks very well,” Poikelispää says.
The youngsters get particularly excited when they have to determine the height or age of a tree. They are surprised to learn that the height of a tree can be measured using sticks, and the age of a tree can be determined from its branch whorls.
“The contact that many children and young people have with forests can be superficial, which is why it’s important that such topics are taught in a natural forest environment. The forest is an exceptional learning environment compared to the school classroom,” Poikelispää points out.
Forest education alongside work
About 25 Metsä Group employees were involved in the mapping and preparation of the forest sites and the implementation of the Forest Day events during the year. Taija Huuskonen, an operations specialist in forest management, took part in the forest day organised in Jämsä.
“I’ve been working for Metsä Group for seven years, and almost every year we have organised a forest day with the local 4H. This time it was easy for me, as the 4H-team took care of all the practical arrangements.
Metsä Group provided the seedlings and found a suitable forest site,” Huuskonen explains.
“At my own waypoint, we planted spruce seedlings and discussed from a forestry perspective why we measure the height and thickness of trees, what is made from the wood, and what happens next in the forest,” says Huuskonen.
“The participants listened to the instructions very carefully, and the seedlings were planted perfectly according to the instructions,” says Huuskonen, praising the ninth graders from Jämsä.
Teachers can also make use of the day in the forest in their teaching afterwards, as the topics chosen for these days are part of the curriculum.
Tree measurements can be discussed in mathematics, and the topic can also be discussed in an essay written for Finnish class, for example.
“Measuring the length of a tree trunk using sticks is straightforward trigonometry,” Huuskonen enthuses.
She believes it is important that young people have a positive image of the forest sector. “All of us working in the forest sector need to see the good aspects of our work and the forest sector and tell young people about them.”
Text: Annamari Heikkinen Image: Niko Peltonen
The article was previously published in issue 4/2022 of Metsä Group’s Viesti magazine