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Nature
trail opening ceremony (2002)
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Visitors
exploring the route
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A 2.8-kilometer-long nature trail was established
in the model forest area as a training aid in forest ecology.
The nature trail presents an interesting demonstration object
for both, forest specialists and the general public, including
schoolchildren and college students.
The route makes it possible to trace changes
that occur in the forest as a result of human impacts. Visitors
are struck by the contrast between regular unthinned rows
of scraggy spruce trees planted in the 1960ies to exuberant
diversity of an intact forest strip along a small forest river.
Real-life exhibits of the nature trail illustrate forest values,
forest succession processes and behaviors of forest inhabitants.
Within a short distance visitors can observe trees marked
by woodpeckers, bird nests, a roedeer resting place, traces
of beavers’ construction activities and elks’
eating preferences in the winter time. Also well represented
are mosses, mushrooms, lichens and protected plant species.
A guided walk along the nature trail helps learn
and appreciate forest values, and in this way make another
step towards conservation and sustainability of forest ecosystems
and wildlife habitats.
The model forest concept provides for sound
forest management practices that do not cause damage to biological
diversity. The focal ideas include retentions of key biotopes
and maintaining ecological functions of forests in the areas
of intensive forestry.
 Brochure
Nature Trail in the Pskov Model Forest >>
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