Secrets of the Forest Cycle

A field workshop on the forest ecosystem in a centuries-old forest of downy oak and white hornbeam

The August activities of young nature rangers brought together older and younger Junior Rangers on the forested shore of the Stinice site in the Krka National Park. Through carefully designed research and experience activities, the young nature rangers discovered the role of forest ecosystems, how complex they are, and how organisms within such natural communities are interconnected.

The workshop began with identifying clues hidden in cryptic verses. By solving the riddles, the Junior Rangers learned about the characteristics of a forester and two processes of the forest cycle: photosynthesis and carbon storage. They then set out to discover five forest secrets. Observing the trees and the forest as a whole, as well as the species that surrounded them, the young nature guards had to discover which species the forest at Stinice was named after.

“Today we learned that the Krka National Park area is rich in varied forest communities. One of the most important among them are the downy oak and white hornbeam forests, which develop in warm climate conditions on gentle slopes and plateaus. The forest at Stinice, which covers an area of 8 hectares, is one of the best-preserved old downy oak forests in Croatia. The downy oak trees in it are from one hundred and fifty to two hundred years old.”, emphasized the Junior Rangers of the Krka National Park, and added: “The forest hides its secrets not so that we never find them, but rather hides them for as long as it takes for us to learn to observe them.”

After observing the forest as a whole, the young nature guards devoted themselves to observing the details – those hidden in each leaf. In doing so, they became familiar with the basic parts of a leaf. They looked for different specimens of leaves, observed and explored their shapes, edges, and veins, and finally sketched the plates and networks of veins of the most interesting among them. They were especially surprised when they saw that the seventeen leaves they had observed separately together formed a single composite leaf.

One secret of the forest cycle was also in discovering the difference between an acorn or an oak gall due to insect activity, along with the different origins and roles of these two formations: while an acorn is a fruit, a gall is the oak's defensive response to the laying of eggs by a gall wasp. Oak galls are rich in tannins, so the Junior Rangers briefly switched from the role of biologists to the role of chemists, and prepared iron gall ink themselves, which served as the basis for making ink that has long marked the cultural history of humanity, starting from the 5th all the way up to the 19th century. They used the prepared ink to complete their sketches and record their own trail of research.

After discovering the secrets of the forest cycle, the young nature guards visited the island of Visovac. With expert guidance, they came to know the rich sacred, cultural, and historical heritage of that unique island built on a white rock. They walked through the landscaped landscape where numerous species live freely and visited the museum, the church, the well, and the Lapis Albus exhibition space.