A few words about a guided walk in the forest

To mark the International Forest Day where several walks were organised (see the JIF schedule). Brigitte Vanopdenboschforest guide, asked participants to comment on the walks on 19 and 21 March 2022.

Comments from participants

Thank you for this superb stroll through a diverse site that is really conducive to the different subjects covered. Your clear explanations of a wide range of issues help to objectivise the opinion we sometimes have of certain environments we encounter and to understand management in terms of objectives. Didactic tools, impeccable documentation and timing. And as the icing on the cake, thank you for inviting the good weather to join us.

Thank you for this great educational tour.
We were invited to explore the woodland from the perspective of an innovative forester.
I learnt how to assess the surface area of plots, observe and distinguish species, the distribution of species according to the environment, the tops of trees for thinning, measure the circumference of trunks and convert it into diameter. Thanks to the diagrams, I was able to understand the growth cycles of a tree.
I discovered that there were several ways of managing a forest, some techniques for caring for growing trees, the right time to thin...
I learnt that global warming favours the spread of the bark beetle and that the presence of the black pine that the bark beetle's predatory insect needs in a spruce forest can considerably delay the damage.
This introduction to forestry will enable me to look at the forest from a different angle and with even greater respect and admiration.

Thank you for this very interesting tour.
I now see the forest - or at least its management - in a different way.
I'd been in the same area a few days before and now I realise how much I hadn't noticed!

Thank you Brigitte for all this information!
I really enjoyed your walk, which taught me so much.
I had no idea of all the possibilities of a mosaic forest, with all its benefits for the forest environment.
If you have any other trips in mind, don't hesitate to let us know!

Thank you for your involvement.
All the feedback was positive: the participants were friendly and your explanations very clear.

Many thanks for this walk organised at Burnontige as part of the Royal Forestry Society of Belgium.
I learnt a lot of things, including how to observe better, how to differentiate between some forest species that are very similar in appearance, such as hornbeam and beech, oak and chestnut, spruce with pine or Douglas fir... And how to recognise species by their buds, especially during the winter.
I learnt how to select the most beautiful trees in a Boulaie, a birch forest, in the spirit of the Forester. To estimate the size of trees, pruning, their dimension or their age.
This walk gave me a better understanding of forest management.
I learned about the tools used by foresters, in particular to measure the circumference of trees with a three-metre tape and its conversion to diameter.
I learned to understand the different operating environments and the reasons for them.
The whole walk was very well documented, with the right teaching aids to enlighten us and give us a good understanding of forestry.
The fight against bark beetle attack on spruce trees, its predatory insect and the usefulness of pine trees to encourage its intervention in a forestry operation.
Thank you Brigitte for everything you've given so professionally, I've understood a lot and learnt a lot.
Thank you for your knowledge of the cycle of nature and its reality.
We look forward to seeing you again very soon.

Thanks again for the invitation and for this educational walk, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's great that you've presented us with different forest management models without any particular subjective assessments. I liked this neutrality, as well as the dynamic teaching method. I'll be back again.

Thank you for the interesting guided tour this afternoon. We learned more about the patient and diverse work of forestry, in particular the Pro Silva method.
It's wonderful to learn this in the field and not in theory. Thank you for your teaching.
See you next time.