A group of children spent a day discovering how woodlands in an internationally-recognised nature zone generate economic benefits and improve the environment at the same time.
The children visited the Dyfi Biosphere – a huge area covering Ceredigion, central Powys and south Gwynedd – where the needs of man are carefully balanced with nature.
The area is one of only two in the United Kingdom designated as a biosphere by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).
Pupils from Cwmpadarn School in Aberystwyth were joined by education officers from Forestry Commission Wales’s Woodlands for Learning (WfL) team as they saw how a local timber mill turned the trees that grow in the Dyfi Valley into a variety of products such as floorboards and beams.
The children visited Dafydd Williams Timber of Pen-y-Wern Farm, above Cors Fochno, just outside Dol-y-Bont in the heart of the Dyfi Biosphere, as part of a Forest Education Initiative (FEI) project focusing on how man and nature co-exist in the zone.
The Dyfi FEI cluster group was awarded £7,000 by UNESCO to work with children within the Dyfi Biosphere area and hosted a series of taster sessions with schools from Glantwynyn, Machynlleth, Aberdyfi, Llanbrynmair, Pennal and Corris, as well as Cwmpadarn.
The woodland-based sessions involved a range of practical workshops to raise awareness of all the habitats in the Dyfi Biosphere and show how it promotes environmental, economic and social harmony.
The schools visited a woodland and discovered the variety of trees that grow in the Dyfi Valley and surrounding areas before discussing links to the timber industry.
The Cwmpadarn pupils followed up their session with a visit to Dafydd Williams Timber, where they watched timber being processed on a mobile saw bench which cuts logs to size and roughly shapes them into wood cuts.
They also had an opportunity to practice their own green woodworking skills and used some of the tools to create bird boxes.
The day was supported by FEI co-ordinator Kim Burnham and FC Wales Education Officers Leigh Denyer and Carolyn Threlfall.
Kim said, “Woodlands are just one habitat within the Dyfi Biosphere but they present a great opportunity help children better understand the concept of the reserve as a whole.
“The children were able to see how woodlands can be economically productive and generate a timber supply, while still meeting the environmental objectives of the biosphere.
“They observed how native broadleaf species were able to colonise some areas since the last ice age and how more recent plantation woodlands were needed to satisfy growing demand for this renewable resource, both locally and internationally.”
The lower Dyfi Valley was first designated a biosphere in the 1970s, but rule changes in the 1990s meant sites had to reapply under new criteria. Jane Davidson, then Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing, announced UNESCO’s agreement to retaining the status in June 2009.
The other UK biosphere is a sand dune system on Saunton Beach in Braunton Burrows, Devon.
