Reflection

Some action that I can do in order to protect the forest is to not have trash in the forest because if you have trash the forest would look ugly. So I think one thing we can do is put trash cans in the forest so if there are people walking or doing a hike they can put trash in some king of trash can and not in the forest. Another thing we can do to keep the forest clean is to bring a plastic bag with you an put trash in it and then you can throw it in the trash. Another thing you can do is to not bring anything that can't be thrown away.

My time in the forest has been an awesome experience for me. I love the forest and love the animals that are in it so when I hear that there was going to be a trip to the forest I was excited and wanted to go. The experience was good I learned a lot about the forest and the animals that live in it. The family that was taking care of us were really good. The food that they made for us was amazing to so the whole time I had a wonder full time. So to say 

Reflection

I found out many new interesting and exciting things by going on this trip. Before going on this trip we had done some initial research but nothing could have prepared me for everything that I was going to find out in the short period of a couple of days. Beforehand I knew basic information on some of the animals, however, the information soon became irrelevant. We got to see extraordinary animals in real life only meters away.  It was very surreal in the beginning. Part of it may have been due to the fact that I was half asleep most mornings, but that's besides the point. The feelings and emotions I experienced could not compare to a quick Wikipedia and five minutes on Google images.
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Something that I think we can do to help the forest is having quarterly cleanups of the forest and clearing up the trash around if it is not being used by the wolves for marking territory. This could be schieved through having people serve out their community service hours this way or starting a volunteer group.


The trip to the Naliboki forest has been a unique experience that I will never forget. It was not so much the" roughing it" as it was the overall experience

Looking Back

 

How did this information impact what you now know?

 

Going into this, I was not expecting to experience as much as I did. I definitely did not expect to see wolves, or the interesting interaction of lynx in Vadim’s camera traps. After observing and learning about the decline of wolf dens and the general population, I have come to realize how extreme the effects of logging actually are. I would also have never expected lynx to have the ability to drive out wolves out of a forest.

Aside from learning about certain behavior that wolves and lynxes tend to demonstrate, I also learned about the history of the forest. Our group was lucky to observe the Old Growth, which was breathtakingly beautiful. Most importantly, however, we also saw and explored the land dugouts that were made during World War I and World War II. That had a very big impact on me personally, especially after Vadim gave us a lecture on our last day. Seeing the photos and hearing the stories from last century made me feel like the Naliboki Forest is more than just a natural habitat in Belarus.


What kind of action could be taken to protect this forest?

I believe that logging would be the first issue to resolve. We cannot completely avoid it, but I think that we have the ability to reduce it, or at least transfer it to another area of Belarus that does not hold so much wild life that heavily depends on its habitat.

Furthermore, I believe that the history of the forest itself should be promoted more. By amplifying the focus on the occurrences in this forest and the effect that they had on the people that lived there at the time, many are bound to adopt a different perspective on its importance. If museums were to promote the Naliboki Forest, there might be a bigger group that is willing to fight for its preservation and protection.

Conclusions:
 
All in all, this trip completely changed my perspective and interpretation of Belarus. So far, I've only been exposed to the main city, Minsk, with a few trips that went over an hour away from the center. Seeing the preserved Belarusian language that I don't tend to hear downtown made me realize that Belarus has a rich culture hidden beyond Minsk. I am thankful to everyone who made this trip possible and fun. I hope that more of us are exposed to the beauty and secrets that the Naliboki Forest holds.

Reflection

How does the observed new knowledge of interesting/unique facts affect your knowledge?

• One of the most significant observations I made was the amount of litter found in the forest. Before the trip, I was constantly heard that the forest was one of the most well-preserved area in Belarus. I was expecting it to be like a "sacred" place where almost no human interaction existed. However, nearly every 5 minutes walking, I could find plastic bottles, plastic bags, cigarette boxes, and so much other trash that are extremely harmful to the environment. I less aware of the problems of littering, but after being in what I've been told in "one of the clearest place," I now have a sense of the severeness.

What can be done to prevent this?

• One possible solution I thought was to place several big trash cans. This is not the best solution though since there are many problems associated with this. If trash cans are placed, that means human interference will increase to collect trash to empty them regularly. This might disturb the animals, which is also one of the problems in the forest. 
• Another possible solution is to put up signs saying that littering is prohibited. Of course, I doubt that people will actually follow this, but it's at least a try.

Reflection

 How did this observed information impact what you now know?

      Seeing how Vadim Sidorovich uses camera traps to collect his research was something new to me. Earlier, I thought camera traps were only used to capture a cool photo of rare animals in the wild. But after he showed us how they work and what he has gathered from using them, I understand that camera traps are extremely important for research. Now I know that they can show us where a wolf den might be, or new traits of an animal, or what animals have been communicating with each other. There is much more information that can be gathered from camera traps than I thought possible.

What kind of action could be taken to protect this forest?

     There are two things that stuck out to me while we were there. One was that there was a lot of litter in the forest. Some of the litter might have been dragged there to mark territory, but it's still not good to have litter that takes a long time to decompose in the forest. One action that could be taken is to have a monthly walk through of the forest to pick up trash. There could also be more signs that say “no littering,” however, many people do not listen to this. I think a helpful step could be a monthly clean up check of the forest. Another problem that should be addressed to help the forest is to stop poachers. One way could be for them to have higher fines if caught poaching, or possibly they should have certain times of the year that they are allowed to hunt so that animals will be able to reproduce. These are just some thoughts that might be used to help protect this beautiful Naliboki forest for many years to come.

Self reflection:

     Looking back, this trip was a like a dream. Everything was a blur of excitement to see what we would find next. Every since I was small I had a love for animals, especially wolves, and it was my dream to see one in the wild. We were told that there was such a small chance that we would ever see a wolf, and not only did we see one, but some of us saw three! This trip has taught me to really enjoy nature and to understand how special it is. Having to stay quiet while walking in the woods was hard at first, but by the last day I really enjoyed having the quiet time to listen to the birds and animals around. One of my favorite times was beaver watching by the river edge. It was such a peaceful place that it took all stress away. I also loved seeing the different environments the forest had. One side of the forest looked almost like autumn, then another was greener with many flowers. Having to wake up early was difficult, but the morning always made up for it when the sun rose. Seeing the sunrise gave me renewed energy and reason to live.  I am glad to have have had this amazing experience this weekend in the forest, and I hope to come back again someday.  

-Anna Davidson

Reflection

Day 1/2:

Having traveled through the bumpy backroads of Belarus, we arrive into the Naliboki Forest completely obtuse of what the days will bring. It did not take long for the animal spotting to start as mid-way through the forest we spot two hares. Our hearts started to race, we saw them for a few seconds and at a glance they were gone. 20 minutes after our spotting, we arrive at the Naust Eco Station.

At first glance, it was what I expected, a wooden hut in the middle of nowhere but as the bus continued, past what I believed to have been the only building, I was positively shocked. It was a rather large plot of land with three, soon to be four, building. Planning to never wash my hands after shaking Vadim's hand, I stepped out of the bus and there was our hero. It was the first time I got to see the person Mr. Smalley would constantly speak so greatly about. As planned, I shook his hand and moved towards the building we, the boys, would stay at. Having barely opened the door, I was welcomed with the smell of good food (sorry, it is indescribable). I rush to throw my stuff onto the floor and make sure I am the first at the table. The moment I have been waiting for came and passed so quickly. After dinner, we unpacked our stuff and that was the moment I got to take in the moderness of the station in. Its interior was very cosy and I saw no problem with calling this place "home" for the next four days. We were also orientated on safety but what stood out to be was the high probability of seeing a snake. Vadim made it seem like we would see at least one snake on a daily basis. He instructured that when we see a snake then we should continue doing what we were going to do. I was completely shakened. Ironically, enough we never saw a snake. Advised to go to sleep at 22.00, I was not sure what the rush was until I found out that we had to wake up at 4.30 am (I would soon find out that this was not that bad).

Day 1:

Getting a night's worth of sleep, I pursued to make it out of bed and into the kitchen. Same as dinner, breakfast was indescribable. Filling my mouth with the final bites, I moved towards Vadim's car. In the car, Mr. Smalley handed me his CoolPix P900 and I felt a sudden responsibility of not being able to miss out on any animal spots. I was extremely attentive that morning but the camera didn't seem to want to follow my plan of action as the focus was all over the place. Getting the situation under control, we drove for a solid amount of time before I was able to make my second spot of the trip. I got to see a moose cross the road which I sadly didn't get on tape. However, what I did get on tape was capercaillies in their natural habitat. They were beautiful animals that made clicking sounds. The spotting did not continue for long as we stopped to go on a walk.

We were at the scene of Fabien Bruggmann's famous shot of a wolf. It took him a week of camping in the Belarusian winter in order to get a shot that we would get out of the warm car on the third day of our trip. We began walking through the woods and I started noticing plastic bottles here and there. I was surprised about finding rubbish in such an isolated location. I thought that people who go to the forest are aware and interested in nature and would not litter. However, it was explained to us that the forest is open to the public. Mrs. Pettersch took the matter into her own hands and began collecting the trash. Having filled up the bag, we asked Vadim whether we will be returning back this way and whether she could leave it there. His answer was "Yes" and we never returned.

We progressed deeper and deeper into the forest where Vadim would show us his camera traps. Vadim said that he is able to keep track of all of his 40 camera traps scattered around the forest but I did not understand quite how. I would never be able to remember where I put tiny cameras in roughly 100 square kilometers of forest.

After a rather short walk, we jumped into the vehicles and drove to the area where we would walk next. This time the walk seemed a lot longer but also a lot more fun. We got to walk through swamp! Whilst planning for this trip, I imagined that swamp would be the only terrain we would walk on. After all, Mr. Smalley told us that Vadim does not like to take the easiest of paths. It was a lovely experience that I am looking forward to having again. Our legs about to fall off, we made it past all the swamp and wolf tracks and finally arrived at the cars. I would have never thought that I would be this happy sitting in a car. Once everybody jumped into their car, we were on our way back to the field station.

We had lunch and some downtime. I did not see the need to use it as a time for sleep. Couples of hours passed and we were on the road with a new plan. We were going to a beaver lodge where we would hopefully see a beaver. We were dropped off by Vadim and expected to see him again at 20.30.  We sat down on a cliff overlooking a beaver lodge and waiting there for one hour. Nothing happening, we concluded that it was too early and decided to go explore the marsh. We were more successful exploring the marsh. I got to spot the tail of a beaver and we saw several ducks. We ended up finishing the skull of an elk which we packaged and took with us. Returning to our cliff, we sat down and waited for one and a half hours. There was no action and complete silence on our half. A cool thing was zooming into the moon using the P900. Time past and it is was getting darker by the minute. Vadim came to pick us up half an hour later than predicted and we were off to the field station. The day had nothing more to offer and so we slid into our beds. We wanted to maximize our sleeping time before the earliest rise of the trip.

Day 2:

Half awake, I found myself getting ready to spot some bisons. We did some driving before arriving at our destination. Sleeping in the car, I lost sense of time. I woke up to a stunning sunrise with bisons in the foreground. It was unbelievable seeing such grand animals in nature. I did not think that we would actually end up seeing them. At that, they seemed to not escape as long as we kept our distance. Wow, what a start to the day it was. After that, I made sure that I would keep my eyes open at all times. We observed the bison for half an hour and then we were off to the Old Growth forest.

The roads seemed to only get more bumpy as we moved further into the forest. A thousand bumps later, we arrived into what I called "Storkland." There was a stork nest on each of the Old Growth trees located on the open field. I've seen a stocknest before but never in such an abundance. It was astonishing how long the wingspan of a stork actually is. There color was also so pure that they camouflaged with the clouds. The habitat of the storks was not considered an Old Growth forest because it didn't have that many Old Growths. As a result, Vadim showed us a proper Old Growth forest.

The visit to the Old Growth forest was not only filled with interest but also history. Vadim explained to us how the vast holes in the ground were used as trenches during World War I. The thought of us standing in a place where a war was fought a century ago gave me chills. What if I were to step onto a land mine? I of course asked this question to Vadim and he assured me that it was safe. The journey through the forest was short lived as we turned back one kilometer in. I found it frustrating how tiredness took over me and hindered me from future exploring the forest. We took the cars to a nearby lake. It was early for lunch and so we took a walk along land that was supposed to have been a boon for the Soviet Union's economy. Mr. Smalley told us how the Soviets restructured the land in a way that would provide it with adequate water for agriculture. After having done most of the work, they realized that the soil wasn't very fertile and all that work was for nothing. The cropland fell victim to a common theme in the Soviet Union: failure.

Killing off time for an hour, we were ready to have lunch. It was the first and last time that we would have lunch out in the field. Lunch was delicious as usual. After lunch, we moved back towards the field station. That was not all for the day.

After a few hours of rest, we were off again. Vadim was going to perform his prominent wolf call. We traveled to two locations in total. Vadim would use speakers to mimic the sounds of a pregnant wolf in hopes of hearing a territorial call back. Sadly, we did not end up hearing anything but the recording of the wolfs was so realistic that I got goosebumps. The darkness did not make it better.

Day 3:

Early starts no longer bothered me. I seem to have built an immunity for five to six hours of sleep. It seemed that the early we wake up the better our spotting was. This also applied to Day 3. Day 3 most have been the most action packed and fascinating day of all.

We began our day with a drive to the open field. Mr. Smalley taught me that you may not have the camera on while we go through the dirt roads but once we enter the open field you must. That is because the animals are unaware of your presence until you enter. During the entrance, you get to see the most unique of animals that you usually wouldn't have because they are so shy. On the field you get to catch animals off guard and are able to capture them on camera. Beside seeing elk and foxes, we got to see one of the Apex predator of the forest: the wolf.

It had been a slow descent. We were careful and as quiet as possible in order to not scare it away. We would approach and it would just stand there. The wolf was curious and was doing what we would do: observe. I would have never thought that we would end up seeing a wolf given how aware and shy they are. When I was younger, I would always think that the wolves were roaming the forest for their prey: humans. I would avoid walking near or in the forest alone at all costs. It was a true weakness of mine. However, as it turns out, wolfs are more scared of humans then humans are scared of wolfs. It takes time, that I wouldn't be patient enough to wait, in order to spot a wolf in the wilderness. Yet, we got to observe a wolf from a relatively close distance without alarming it to run out of our sight. That had been the climax of the trip and I was ready to go home. We had seen so much that I thought there wasn't anything that we hadn't seen. We got back into the cars and continued our journey to location at which we would hike.

On the way, we saw a few peculiar birds such as the Golden Eagle. During the hike, we photographed ourselves on top of a abandoned beaver lodge. It felt rather unstable. We got to roam through more swamp and saw more dugouts. This time, the dugouts were from World War II. After being enriched with new history, we undertook the journey back to the field station.

In the field station, we ate lunch and we were getting ready to give back to Vadim's family. Prior to our trip, we had weekly meetings during which one of the topics was gifts for the family. Each of the students and teachers prepared a gift to give to a certain member of the family or for the family as a whole. We invited the entire family into the dining room and their reactions were priceless. It was interesting seeing how an item brought so much joy to someone. It was like a second New Years for them. I would never think that the items that I got for them would hold such a value. I was thinking that they would enjoy the books I bought but not to point that they would engage so much with it and would not stop reading until they finished the book.

Filled with new energy, we went on a walk to a nearby pond. The walk was well-fitting and considered a lovely evening stroll. We got to speak with one another which was a rare occasion. After half an hour, we arrived at the pond which was had marsh floating on its surface. It was really cool because we were able to interact with the terrain. You could jump onto the marsh and the whole group would move. We were able to create a tsunami on the pond. I got so engaged with fooling around with the interactive space that I fell into the water. It was completely my fault because I underestimated the thickness and stability of the marsh. I challenged myself to walk on it without my feet drowning in the water. It did not go according to plan as my entire leg was drowned into the pond. It felt like my feet were trapped in an aquarium. Walking back with wet feet, I tried to make it back to the field station as quickly as possible.

Day 4:

Tears in my eyes, because it was the last day, we tried to make the most of the day before we would get back onto the bus to Minsk. The last day was no exception, it was another early start. I was again responsible for video coverage during the car ride. As we were taking the corner, there stood a moose right in front of us. I had the camera ready and pressed the "record" button. Unfortunately, it was so dark that the camera was unable to capture the moose. That got me slightly ticked off.

However, after an unfortunate event comes a fortunate event. We rode the car to one of many Naliboki Forest marsh lands. As we were walking through it, the sun was rising. It was one of the most scenic sunrises I have seen in my entire life. The sun was of a reddish color and the sky surrounding it was orange. It was an astounding site to see. We made our way to the tip of one of the swamp paths and back to the vehicles.

We passed by the open field where we ended up seeing nothing. Afterall, what else was there to see? I felt that we had seen everything the forest had to offer. We returned back to the field station where we packed and were getting to depart. We had our last lunch and then it was time to say "goodbye."

Thus that concludes the trip to the Naliboki Forest.

Assigned Questions:

Q. How did the observations impact what you know?

A. When it came to the Naliboki Forest wildlife, I was completely obtuse. I would look up online the species that roam the Belarussian forests but would never feel confident about the results. Now, I am able to list the specific species that live in one of Belarus's forests as I was able to see them with my own eyes. Additionally, Vadim, who has been studying the forest his entire life, was able to tell about species that we didn't see. I found him to be a lot more trustable then some random website. Now, I have a more accurate knowledge of the species that inhabit that Belarusian countryside. As a result, for my online course, which requires local species data from time to time, I am able to draw more accurate conclusions. I would never think that a Belarussian forest could be so fruitful. I have heard great things about the wildlife but would often approach it with skepticism. Now that I got to see the animals with own ideas, I have become a firm believer of the idea that Belarus is filled with wildlife. The problem was that I have lived in areas of civilizations which animals are scared of approaching. That is probably why I have never seen any wildlife species besides, on occasion, a dead elk on the road. I knew that they existed but did not know the shear amount of them. Even though we never had evening lectures, I felt that I took in a lot of information that I wouldn't otherwise be able to get my hands on.

Q. What kind of plan can be created from the new knowledge benefits your or others in the future?

A. Ending all human activity in the forest would be my initial thought but this would clearly be possible. That is why we should the address the more specific issue of poaching. Illegal hunting of endangered wildlife has become a prominent issue that needs resolvement. Poachers make an income from selling the fur, leather, or bones of an animal which is in high demand and therefore is very profitable. On a large scale, this issue can be resolved with the enforcement of laws. Laws that limit or ban the trade of endangered species. If found guilty of breaching the law, there will be appropriate penalties such as jail sentencing or fines. Another solution could by spreading awareness about the issue. Commonly, an issue may not be considered prominent because people simply lack knowledge of it. That is why, people who know of the issue, should take the matter into their own hands and lectures others. Education is a tool that will teach people to make better purchasing choices, persuade them to act, and will decrease the demand for endangered animal goods. With a decrease in demand, poachers are likely to make lesser of a profit and give up on the market as a whole. Last but not least, there is another suggestion for cutting off the demand for these kind of goods. Just like "smoking kills" is written on a cigarette box, similar messages should be conveyed on animal-related products. For example, on the packaging of a Lynx fur it should be written "there are only 9500 lynx left in Europe. That was one of them." This would make the customers more aware of what they are purchasing and will likely prevent them from making the transaction.

Reflection

Naliboki Trip

Wednesday:

A hare ran in front of our van that brought great luck to us.

We were greeted with very good food and hospitality.

Thursday:

Left the station at 5am and got into the car. In the car I saw animals in the field. Those were Roe deer jumping as if on steroids, whoper-swans walking leisurely and cranes resting by small rivers.  We then stopped and walked around to hear capercaillie. I enjoyed the sounds of nature and the peacefulness of the forest on the first day. I saw capercaille while driving the car. In the evening my team sat next to a river where beavers and otters swum and we hoped to see it. We didn't see any but we went for a walk nearby and found a deer skull that I took home. Yum!

Friday:

Very nice breakfast. We got up very early and we got to see bison which surprised me. It was big, hairy beast. I was truly happy to witness the infamous Belorussian Bison. Vadmin got sad that people were falling asleep in the cars. We then went and saw storks on top on trees and I was surprised to see so many nests on top of tall trees. We ate outside and I loved listening to Vadims stories. We then went to a swamp and I fell into it. The swamp was the old growth and it smelled like garlic, or at least thats what I heard since my nose was blocked. I found moss and took some with me because Ms. Kurten asked me to but she also wanted some liverwort. I tried explaining what liverwort was to Irina but it was long because I couldn't just google it. She then had a dictionary of all plants and found one species of liverwort.

Saturday:

We saw a brownish wolf! That was so nice. Never have I seen a wolf before in the wild. I got to see how Vadim places and takes off camera traps and it was so cool seeing the different wolf homes and dens even though there were no wolves.

Sunday:

We went through a beautiful terrain full of swamps. We saw the cool sunshine, packed and left after a delightful lunch. Vadim talked about interesting history that I kind of missed because of my stomach ache ;( and then me and Irina went liverwort hunting and were unsuccessful.

How did the observation impact what I knew?

I was surprised to see so many animals. Even Mr. Smalley who went to the forest 8 times told us that we were lucky. I understood how much work Vadim does by walking around and taking camera traps. I was astonished by how he remembers the whole forest and can navigate without a map. The one sad thing that I didn't do was that I didn't find the Liverwort( that no one believed existed). I understood how hard it is to find animals as it was my first time trying to track animals down instead of looking in a zoo. The amount of silence and tenacity people need to have to see the animals is extraordinary. 

Plan to solve an issue in the forest:

We must stop human interference besides Vadim and other experts in the forest. Poachers or people who have no clue what they are doing are destroying the animal habitat, scaring the animals and ye poachers murder animals. We must limit the amount of humans that stop the flow of nature. How will we do this? Set up billboards that say you can't be here or charge a fine for being in the forest for an undeclared reason. Get security cameras and instill rewards for catching poachers. We must teach people to erase their footprints when going after an animal for good reasons because poachers might follow.

Reflection

1. Now I know so many new things about forests and animals that I either wanted to learn or needed to learn in general. For example I never knew that a couple of wolfs would still be scared of a lynx. Or something else I learned that shocked me was the enormous and vast amount of territory the wolf’s occupy in the forest.
2. A way to strongly reduce litter in the forest which currently is very abundant is to work with organisations as the UNDP. By working with such organisation the forest will be well protected, and at the same time will also become way more clean than it is now.
3. My favorite parts of this trip were when we were observing animal habitats and animals in the wild. These parts were my favorite because I am really passionate about animals in general and seeing where they live was also very fortunate for me.