Workshops for forest educators "Podkowcarnia'24"

How can you educate with passion, commitment, energetically and yet with your head down? From August 19-30 we conducted a series of workshops. We trained … forest educators from four regional directorates of the State Forests. These were foresters from the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Wroclaw, Katowice, Krakow and Krosno. Such a choice, of course, was dictated by the range of the horseshoe bats, the highlanders among the bats.

Misją projektu LIFE+ jest przyczynienie się do utrzymania i poprawy stanu ochrony zagrożonych gatunków nietoperzy w regionie Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. Jednym ze sposobów na powodzenie tej misji jest rozszerzenie instytucjonalnego wsparcia w ochronie nietoperzy. Leśnicy to grupa zawodowa, która na co dzień ma styczność z terenami i obiektami zajmowanymi przez nietoperze. Poza tym, to właśnie leśnicy kreują postawy i zachowania sprzyjające ochronie nietoperzy. Prowadzona przez leśników edukacja społeczeństwa ma bardzo szeroki zasięg. Dlatego nasz projekt LIFE+ uznał, że kto jak kto, ale leśnicy powinni otrzymać od nas wsparcie w zakresie: wiedzy, umiejętności i motywacji w działaniach zmierzających do skutecznej ochrony nietoperzy.

The mission of the LIFE+ project is to contribute to maintaining and improving the conservation status of endangered bat species in the Central and Eastern European region. One way to succeed in this mission is to expand institutional support for bat conservation. Foresters are the professional group that has daily contact with areas and facilities occupied by bats. Besides, it is the foresters who create attitudes and behaviors conducive to bat conservation. The education of the public carried out by foresters is very broad in scope. That’s why our LIFE+ project felt that whoever, but foresters should be supported by us in terms of: knowledge, skills and motivation in activities aimed at effective bat conservation.

Forest educators were trained in the use of ultrasonic detectors. The theoretical knowledge was complemented by night detectoring sessions at the Samopolska Cave, at the dam on the Vistula River, at the pond in Goleszów and at the shelter of the horseshoe bat colony in Brenna, called “Podkowcarnia” (Polish for Horseshoe House), from which the whole workshop took its name.
The project coordinator, Rafal Szkudlarek, also presented the operation of a thermal imaging camera and other solutions to facilitate the observation of bats in the field. The image of horseshoe bats flying down and circling under the cave caused great surprise to the workshop participants. On the occasion of evening listening and recording, the moderators presented good practices in conducting “live” observations. As in medical science, the basic principle in conservation is: “primum non nocere”, that is, to conduct field education and show bats in such a way as not to endanger the animals and their environment.

During the classroom sessions, chiropterologists on staff of the LIFE+ project covered topics related to the biology, ecology and conservation of bats. There was no shortage of difficult questions, but what are we for if not substantive support?
In addition, all participants received a script prepared by the trainers. The panel on activating methods of education was led by Dr. Łukasz Hajduk – on a daily basis working at the Laboratory of Social Pedagogy and Andragogy of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. The main topic was a teaching method based on the pedagogy of play according to the maxim: “play has to be taken seriously, because there is no better method to learn”. Foresters learned how to recognize the potential of the group they are educating, and then infect them with their enthusiasm and passion.

During the workshop, 20 forest districts received the purchased Pettersson D240x ultrasound detectors for their use in educational activities promoting our Project. We can say with confidence that this professional group will perfectly handle the mission of educating for bat conservation.
How do we know this? Participants in the course of the workshop showed uncommon commitment and ingenuity. The games, plays and animations they came up with will be a great source of lesson plans and activities with any age group.

During the workshop we were supported by educators of the Land of the Horseshoe, the Beskid, Jurassic and Sudetic guides. There was no shortage of local nature enthusiasts and photographers.
It is safe to say that this was an expedition with people who already have, or have just started to grow, bat wings!