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Usually school students learn about forest from books, and not from nature. JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) experts have decided to change this practice by bringing together more than 3000 school students from all over Latvia to explore forest in real Forest Expeditions. In a three-hour hike children get to know what forest is, how it is grown and what should be done for forest values to be available also for future generations.

Inga Bērziņa, Valmiera Pargauja Primary School teacher, says that such expeditions would be valuable for each school student, as well as for their parents. "It is a wonderful opportunity to see in nature what is taught at school: how forest is cultivated, tended and managed. This day in the forest is more valuable than a whole month in a classroom," says Inga Bērziņa.

Forest Expedition route is planned in a length of around two to three kilometres, and it covers a variety of educational stops. Students, going from one stop to another, perform practical tasks in the forest, supplementing their knowledge and exploring in reality things that they have read in books or have been told about by their teachers. The expeditions are led by LVM employees whose daily life in many ways is related to the forest: planners, foresters, forest infrastructure specialists, lawyers, regional managers and other specialists. As admitted by LVM employees, it is a great opportunity for school students to discover the complex processes taking place in the forest.

In LVM Forest Expeditions students look for answers to the following questions:

• Is wood only in a tree?
• Does forest need to be restored? How is it done?
• Why are clearings needed?
• Where does a large tree start?
• Which trees can be sawn, and which still should grow?
• What do forests and Formula 1 have in common?

"As people are more and more distancing themselves from the natural environment, understanding of forests and the processes taking place in forests is formed from populist slogans and views in the virtual environment. Forest Expeditions we allow children themselves raise awareness of the processes taking place in the forest. Hopefully, it will help to bring up a generation that understands that everything in the forest must be in balance: the man, the economy and the environment. People should be educated about forest," says Vilmārs Katkovskis, LVM Rietumvidzeme Regional Forest Management Planning Manager. This spring, several hundred school students from Limbaži, Valmiera, Sigulda, Riga and other places headed for a Forest Expedition in the western part of Vidzeme (Rietumvidzeme).

This spring, Forest Expeditions took place in all LVM regions, and it is planned that in the autumn this practice will continue, offering also 6th graders an opportunity to head for a forest adventure. In preparation for the autumn season, in collaboration with the National Centre for Education expedition routes are currently being improved and special learning materials for sixth graders are being elaborated. In these materials, learning in nature is planned as a part of the future, competence-based content of the natural sciences. Such Forest Expeditions, which focus on the curriculum, are a common practice in the Scandinavian countries, where 5th - 6th grade students acquire forest management in nature.