German forest youth
The “scouting test” of the forest youth also includes being able to identify 15 different trees and shrubs in the forest; see: "Special features"
The German Forest Youth (DWJ) is one of the oldest nature conservation youth associations in Germany and the youth organization of the German Forest Protection Association , the first German citizens' initiative after the Second World War . It was founded in 1957 and is represented in Germany by around 400 local groups. The DWJ wants its young members to understand the need for an intact nature. The group life of many groups is shaped by forms of youth movement .
history
After the Second World War, large areas of forest in Germany were destroyed by overexploitation , and the “Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald” (SDW) called on young people to help with the reforestation that was now necessary . Numerous young people were inspired by the idea, some took part more often, they “looked for action, adventure in the forest and togetherness.” In Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Hamburg, biological working groups were set up that were supervised by young foresters and teachers. In 1956, Klaus Gundelach founded a "Jugendwaldring" in Kiel and the name Deutsche Waldjugend appeared for the first time. In 1957 the regional association North was founded and in 1960, despite some resistance from the SDW, the regional associations Lower Saxony, North, Hesse, NRW and Rhineland-Palatinate merged to form the Federal Association of German Forest Youth. In 1966 the first federal camp took place, where Dieter Weldt was elected first federal leader. The number of members grew rapidly and at the second federal camp in 1968 at the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress there were already 100 kohten and 7 yurts. Since 1977, the federal government increasingly opened other associations, participated in überbündischen meetings (including 1,988 on Meißnertreffen ) and worked on the magazine of the youth movement of the icebreaker with.
| German Forest Youth (DWJ) |
|
|---|---|
| purpose | natural reserve |
| Chair: | Theres Koeppen |
| Establishment date: | 1957 |
| Number of members: | 4500 |
| Seat : | Hemer |
| Website: | www.waldjugend.de |
Structure and organization
The association is a member of the adult association of the German Forest Protection Association. It is a recognized non-profit organization of free youth welfare . The association's work is not bound by party politics, denomination or ideology, the structure is grassroots democratic. The work is supported by the Friends of the German Forest Youth, the Klaus Gundelach Fund . The Klaus Gundelach Prize , founded in 1975 by Klaus Gundelach, is awarded annually by the SDW Presidium to individuals or groups of the German Forest Youth for outstanding achievements.
Federal and state level
The federal association is divided into 12 regional associations with around 4,000 to 4,500 members aged 8 to 27, of which around 40 percent are women. Day nursery managers and employees of the state and federal management may also be older due to their work. Jörg Franz is the managing director and Theres Koeppen has been the federal director since 2019. The federal association publishes two magazines and organizes, among other things, the federal camps. In Lower Saxony there is an association that is independent of the German Forest Youth, which also bears the name Forest Youth.
Local chapters: Horste and Horten
There are about 400 local chapters. The members call themselves rangers, the 8 to 10 year olds are called wildlings. Groups with a membership of mostly 5 to 15 rangers form a hoard , several hoards in one place form a so-called horst or hoarding ring. As part of the group lessons and work of the individual after-school care centers , assignments take place in local forests , with the aim of getting children and young people interested and enthusiastic about nature . Bringing nature closer is one of the key points in the objectives of the forest youth.
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Forest sponsor and sponsored forest
Most groups have a forest sponsor. They are referred to as godfather foresters if they work in the forest professionally; For example, biology teachers can work as forest sponsors. They advise the ranger groups and give them the necessary knowledge about nature and help, for example, with official matters. Groups are often assigned a specific forest area, which the members then look after as a “sponsored forest”. In many activities, especially in the forest youth forest operations, cooperation without a forester or a forest sponsor is usually not possible.
Divide and symbols
The ranger usually wears a dark green shirt with a badge of the forest youth and a badge with the name of his local group above it. After a kind of probationary period of about a year, he is awarded his scarf . This is a black and green triangular shawl that is rolled up around the neck. The color black symbolizes the elements of drive and camp of youth work in the forest. The green color reflects the bond with nature and the environment. The two ends of the scarf are combined with a knot. These knots are available in many designs: simple leather knots, wooden knots, or even a piece of antler. The knot symbolizes the community and the cohesion between the rangers.
Areas of activity
Nature and environmental protection
General
The association is active in many areas of voluntary nature and environmental protection:
- Planting trees, caring for and maintaining the forest
- Insect and ants protection
- Bat and bird protection
- Plant protection
- Moist biotope maintenance and amphibian protection
- Education and public relations; Organization of forest youth games
Projects
The forest youth takes part in national and international projects, for example in the United Nations “Tree Project” with the “A Tree for Africa” campaign (1985/86). Depending on the circumstances, different local projects are also carried out. For example, on the former German-German border on the northern edge of Berlin, a “ nature protection tower” was set up by the Waldjugend together with the SDW. This is one of four still existing former border watchtowers, which was rebuilt accordingly. An associated large outdoor area with a variety of biotopes is maintained. The facility is also available to school classes for project days, a group “young beekeepers in the forest youth” is active there, guided tours are offered and you can plant a “wedding tree” there.
In 2018, the Waldjugend started several international educational projects on all aspects of climate change, e.g. B. in Brazil and the European Arctic.
In 2019 the project "Save our forest birds" was launched. At the Federal Camp 2019, the Federal Minister of Agriculture was given a symbolic voucher for 20,000 hours of volunteer work for the forest in 2020.
Youthful life
Historically, the association sees itself in the tradition of the German youth movement and thus the cultivation of local customs.
Camp and ride
The forest youth camps with their kohten and yurts usually take place away from normal camping and official tent sites. Wherever possible, people try to live as close to nature as the name implies. Many regional associations organize a large national camp over Pentecost, in which most of the local groups take part. The journey in particular is seen as a community-building element in youth work. Especially the Nordland drive into the almost untouched wilderness of Scandinavia is experienced by the rangers as one of the greatest adventures, which is reflected in many travel reports in their magazines and in the forest youth adventure book about the crossing of the Hardangervidda “Fjellwanderung”.
Musical
Like groups that emerged from the youth movement, the club was also influenced by Romanticism . This is reflected, for example, in the songs sung around the campfire . Heinrich Steinhöfel (heinpe), who moved from the German Youth Union (dj.1.11) to the DWJ from 1961 to 1968 and led the Hortenring Kiel, brought the Bündische Liedgut into the Waldjugend. At the state and federal level, a singing competition takes place at the joint camps. For decades it was customary for the winning group of the federal competition to receive a booze pen that they were allowed to keep until the next federal camp. In the Bund, they created their own songs, for example The Little Troll, The Piet on the Gallows and, best known, when evening approaches . In addition, the forest youth published their own song books, as well as several CDs with travel songs and Irish songs. In addition to music, the DWJ's musical area includes especially works and handicrafts, but also theater and games.
particularities
Blowing hunting horns has a special position within the youth associations . Every large camp is opened with a hunting horn signal and competitions in hunting horns are held at the respective state and federal camps .
The so-called scouting test is an essential part of the club's life and the basis of the educational concept. It contains 24 tasks that a ranger should try to master in the course of his youth in the forest. The tasks include, for example, the construction of nesting boxes , which are then observed for a breeding period, or the knowledge of ten types of mushrooms, but also the construction of a kohte or the organization of a group evening. The rangers can prepare for the tasks in special "scouting courses". If someone has completed 10 tasks, he receives the green cord and can call himself a scout, with 24 points he receives the silver cord and is allowed to call himself a scout. The highest honor is the appointment of a Heger if, in addition to the 24 scouting points, a forest action camp has been organized, an association-internal publication has been published and relevant knowledge is passed on to others.
Awards
Own publications
In addition to the federal association, which publishes the info magazine three times a year , others appear in individual regional associations, such as Die Waldameise (NRW), Nordnachrichten (North), Waldjugendkurier (RLP) and Hortenpost (Hessen). A DWJ calendar is printed annually. 1985 appeared in Südmarkverlag , edited by the Forest Youth image brochure trees are sanctuaries . Since 1978, the federal government has published the guidebook Fang in loose succession about three times a year , which sometimes appears in paperback format for detailed natural history topics, for example
- Manfred Sielaff: Our wood ants . No. 34. Hemer 1988.
- Manfred Sielaff, Helmut Pohl: Our bats . No. 59. Hemer 1996.
The forest youth brought out five of their own songbooks ( Sing a song , songs from Mac , tones and sounds , For us singers and songs from the journey I and II), and three CDs with journey songs ( When the evening approaches (1996), Heut wird die Hexe burned (2006) and Eire. Songs of the Emerald Isle ).
Secondary literature
- Wolfgang Hegemeister : "... and that is forest youth?" Fang 59. Deutsche Waldjugend, Hemer 1997.
- Wolfgang Hegemeister: ... that is the forest youth . Catch 61. Hemer 1999.
- Wolfgang Hegemeister: The scouting points . Catch 39. Hemer 1990.
- Erik Martin: Forest youth . In: The small border forest book . Viersen 1988, pp. 59-71.
- Manfred Stender: Nature conservation projects of the German Forest Youth . Catch 54. Hemer 1994.
Web links
- Literature by and about German Forest Youth in the catalog of the German National Library
- Homepage of the federal association
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Hegemeister in: "... and that is forest youth" . P. 8
- ↑ z. B. Planting actions . In: Annual report of the Biological Station Western Ruhr Area 2006 . Volume 4, 2007, Oberhausen, p. 55
- ^ Bat reintroduction . In: der eisbrecher , No. 2, 1991, Witzenhausen, pp. 192–196
- ↑ z. B. Bärbel Dethlefs u. a .: Species relief measures to secure the occurrence of Platanthera bifolia, Dactylorhiza maculata and Ophioglossum vulgatum . In: Floristic Notes from the Lüneburg Heath , No. 10, March 2002, Beedenbostel
- ^ Karl-August Bottler: Forest Youth Games . Obermoschel 1997
- ↑ Nature protection tower in the north edge of Berlin ( memento of the original from August 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. read on February 26, 2009
- ^ Erik Martin : Fjellwanderung . Südmarkverlag, Heidenheim 1986, ISBN 3-88258-094-1
