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Winners of international contest “Young People in European Forests” (YPEF) from 12 European countries this autumn met in the LVM Nature Park in Tērvete to establish the wisest European young people about forests. Friendship won in the final, but first place went to the united team from Hungary, Latvia and Germany. Finalists were congratulated by the organisers JSC “Latvia's State Forests” and supporters – JSC “Latvijas Finieris”, “Husqvarna” and “Lokalboards”.

The Minister of Agriculture of Latvia, Jānis Dūklavs, opened the competition, “Did you know that the tallest pines of Latvia grow in the LVM Nature Park in Tērvete? And that here you can learn about forest not only from the ecological and economic aspect, but also from the cultural aspect? A sustainable development, which is ensured by all of these aspects, in the future will have an increasing role, thus, I hope that because of this day and this contest you will become even smarter and more active ambassadors of sustainable development in European forests.”

The awarding of the most skilful forest smarties of “Young People in European Forests” took place in the LVM Jaunmokas Palace, and it was also attended by the dean of Forest Faculty of Latvia University of Agriculture, Dagnis Dubrovskis. A special surprise was a performance of the faculty's folk dance collective which also involved in the enthusiastic dances the guests from Austria, Portugal, Romania, Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Slovenia, Germany and Latvia. Friendship won in the finals of the “Young People in European Forests” contest, but first place went to the united team from Hungary, Latvia and Germany, they won the special prize – a “Lokalboards” skateboard that is handcrafted in Latvia.

Though, each country was represented by three young people – the winners of national contests – the competing in international final was in mixed nationality teams to encourage communication between them. Latvia was represented by young people from Mammadaba Embassy – Jelgava Spīdola Gymnasium and Ogre State Technical College, they were the winners of knowledge selection rounds in their schools. The contest will continue, only in other forests – in Hungary and Lithuania.

This year’s final of contest took place in Latvia from 28 – 30 September, and consisted of two rounds – active and creative. In the active round, participants had to find forest educational control points in the LVM Nature Park in Tērvete, where they had to prove their knowledge and skills about European forests.  One of control points was on the new wooden bridge with a task to identify things that are produced from wood. However, in the Dwarfs’ cottage teams had a task to identify by touch what wood products are placed in a box – woodchips, peat, wood pellets or something else.

In the creative round, participants had to create a poster – a story about a theme “Friendship between forests and people”; story had to include one of the 12 objects drawn, for example, “Husqvarna” helmet, Bitterlich's measuring instrument, planting tool, mushroom basket, etc.

The contest had jurors from 12 countries; they were representatives of each county's forest sector. All participants had been preparing hard for the contest, they got acquainted with contest's material, however, the hardest part for them was the execution of practical tasks in forest and the presentation of creative task, which needed broader erudition, collaboration and courage.