German team wins European Championship of Forestry Skills in Estonia
Organized by Luua Forestry School, the competition measuring the latest achievements in logging techniques, logging machinery tools, logger’s safety equipment, and a comparison of these at an international level in theory and practice, took place over the weekend in Luua village in Jõgeva county, eastern Estonia.
Participants from 18 European countries were competing over the weekend to become the 'best tree cutters'.
German team achieved an overall victory, as well as the first place in the Forestry Course discipline. The second place was claimed by the host Estonia. The team of Luua Forestry School representing Estonia also won the first place in the Felling Cut discipline. Italian team finished third overall.
The pan-European competition, first held in 2002, aims to increase the appreciation of forest work and to draw general attention to forestry training and the forestry industry on both national and international level. A team competition between schools of the EU, the best team from each country attends the competition. Students who are in forestry training and between 16 – 25 years of age are eligible to compete. Estonian team has won the competition twice in the past - in 2003 and 2004.
Luua Forestry School was established in 1948 and is the only vocational school in Estonia specializing in different forestry and landscaping subjects. The college owns 3,500 hectares of land, a sawmill, a tree nursery, a 3.5 hectar arboretum and a well-equipped new gardening department. There are about 400 students in the school, which also organizes various training days and courses related to environmental education for both adults and children.
Editor: S. Tambur