The final newsletter for the EU4Shepherds Project is now available to download here or you can visit the EU4Shepherds website. The newsletter shares information about dissemination workshops in Austria and Romania as well as the final project workshop held in Romania in June 2023. The free training platform is now available via the EU4Shepherds website […]
News Update July 2023 The EU4Shepherds Training App is now available to download from the Google Play. As well as accessing the free training on your laptop you can now access the modules via your mobile phone. The app allows you to work through the 11 training modules for sheep keepers and shepherds in English […]
Sharing the Results – Click here to download Newsletter 5 or visit the EU4Shepherds website. The EU4 Shepherds Project is continuing to bring together training information for sheep keepers and trainers in all of the project countries. The Training Platform with 11 modules is now up and running and you can access all the information […]
The EU4 Shepherds project is bringing together shepherd trainers, land managers and rural development specialists to update the options for sharing shepherding skills in the 21st century. The new edition of the newsletter has just been launched and features a series of 9 interviews of shepherds from across Europe.
Find out about shepherd training in other parts of Europe in the first newsletter of the EU4Shepherds Project.
We are looking for sheep keepers and trainers in Scotland to share their views on vocational training for sustainable shepherding.
The STEM Programme (Traditional Skills & Sustainable Materials) ALL STEM courses postponed. We are planning to continue with our Adult Education courses in Natural and Cultural Heritage as soon as COVID conditions permit for safe travel. We hope to run NET courses in 2022. The announcement that the UK is leaving the ERASMUS+ programme […]
The NET Programme (Managing Our Natural & Cultural Heritage Assets) All NET courses postponed until 2022. We are planning to continue with our Adult Education courses in Natural and Cultural Heritage as soon as COVID conditions permit for safe travel. We hope to run NET courses in 2022 The announcement that the UK is […]
I was part of a five person group from the Strathearn area of Scotland, which took part in what was to be the first of six exchange visits planned for 2014/2015. Our programme in Romania centred on visiting the village of Rimet in Alba County, Transylvania, to observe and take part in the local village festival. We were to be joined by a similar group from the village of Ivanci in Slovenia.
Di Mcnab
The visit provided many special opportunities for informal learning that could not have been acquired by any means other than interaction with the local community experienced within their cultural and natural environment. The project was based in a school house in the hamlet of Rîmeţ which sits at about 1000 metres above spectacular rural scenery that is only accessible by rough track roads. Rîmeţ is in a wonderful natural setting, surrounded by prolific flower meadows that are unspoiled by any chemical fertilisers. There is a fantastic matrix of wild plants that attract a wide variety of butterflies and insects which it turn allows birdlife to flourish there. There are some simple tracks and paths that thread their way through the landscape and would provide some potential for Eco tourism ( eg walking or bird watching holidays),
It was a great opportunity to be able to spend a week looking at the various types of parks and reserves in the Odra Delta and seeing the benefits and challenges of each. I think we were all blown away by how rich and diverse the wildlife and landscapes are, not just within the protected areas, but in the general landscape of the region as a whole. The main issues facing protected areas and wildlife in general in Poland seems to be a familiar one, lack of funding, staffing and awareness, which is all too familiar a problem in the UK as well. Due to Poland’s history, many people do not feel a connection to the land and so one of the results is that volunteering is nearly non-existant, which is a shame as this could be a rich source of help that is currently unavailable. It will also be interesting to see how the reserves will cope with climate change; increased pressure from predation and invasive species is tied in to this (as seen at Ujscie Warty NP) and subsequently pressure on staff time and funding for projects to deal with this. Hopefully the diversity of the landscapes means […]
A group report covering a range of perspectives and topics from the NET Latvia course 2019. Although a trip focused on understanding the management of nature conservation in Latvia our hosts made sure we received a healthy dose of cultural history to compliment and broaden our understanding of Latvia and its people.
From the wetlands of Kemeri National Park through to the wooded sand stone valley of Gauja National Park the visiting tourist cannot fail to be impressed by the abundance of information signs, play areas, picnic spots, fire pits, boarded walks and walking trails which manage to make you feel welcome without compromising on the natural beauty of the landscape. I think all in the group would agree that we were excited about the accessibility of Latvia to a tourist with return trips already being mapped out.
An account of the history and restoration works undertaken of one of Latvia’s major peat bogs – and the restoration of an adjoining river and associate flood plains.
In terms of organisational structure there are strong similarities to Scotland. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) develops policy. The State Forest Service sits within the MOA and enforces legislation across the industry whilst providing support and issuing licences/permits for all forests regardless of ownership. Finally, the Latvia State Forests Joint Stock Company operates as a commercial entity and manages all state owned forests. However as Normunds went into more detail and as we visited more forests throughout the week it became clear that organisational structure was where any similarities to forestry in Scotland ended. In terms of forest cover, ownership and management Scotland and Latvia could hardly be more different. It was fascinating to spend time in a country with such a different approach, where forestry seems to be winning out over intensive tree farming. Since being back at work I’ve been looking at my sites differently, wondering how much of what I saw could work here and daydreaming of Wolf , Moose, Lynx and Bear…. Paldies Latvia!
In Latvia deer management is administered centrally by the State Forest Service and there is a national register of hunters who require a license to hunt. However management is devolved to the 2074 hunting districts with cull targets and objective agreed locally. This and the requirement of a minimum land area over which to hunt different species means that there is a more collaborative approach to hunting in Latvia. Cull reporting is more rigorous than in Scotland and hunters are required to record where, when and how many deer they harvest.
Given the extent and value of both Norway and Sitka spruce stands in both Scotland and the wider UK, it is vitally important economically and environmentally as described above to minimize and control any outbreaks of dangerous forest pests in coming years. Lessons learned in Latvia as well as other European countries indicate the importance of early detection through annual monitoring and indeed the important relevant intervention to control outbreaks and minimize losses as well as preventing further spread of infestations.
It is an impressive set up, with a (for Latvia) diverse staff of 35, who are highly skilled and experienced in their fields of biology, chemistry, electronics, and others. The umbrella vision for IES and the other 11 companies is an ethos of environmental thinking through medicine, art, beauty, and gastronomy. There is a conscious effort to break the barriers between science based knowledge and the experience of people who have gained a deep understanding of the land through years of working and living with it, blending the two to gain a higher level of understanding. This is done through job swaps, careful recruitment, local projects, and shadowing.
English
Deutsch
