Under the LatViaNature project, the Nature Conservation Agency has produced a series of 10 short films about biologically valuable forest – “Tales of the Old Bracket Fungus” – which are based on scientific data and the knowledge of leading nature experts, and which, told in the wise voice of the Bracket Fungus, will be understandable to everyone.
“The Old Bracket Fungus is the voice of an old, natural, biologically valuable forest, and through its tales the story of the whole forest is revealed – how it came to be, how it is structured, who lives in it and how they relate to one another, how the forest feels, and how it views the things we humans do. This is an unusual and captivating format for talking about nature – dynamic stories that hold your attention with engaging characters and humour. The complex aspects of a biologically valuable ecosystem are presented simply and clearly, without losing the scientific grounding. The Nature Conservation Agency’s leading nature experts took part in developing the short films,” says Andris Širovs, acting Director General of the Nature Conservation Agency.
The Nature Conservation Agency invites educational institutions to use “Tales of the Old Bracket Fungus” as supporting material in teaching, fostering an understanding of the connected web of life in the forest in an engaging way.
The short film series is freely available: https://latvianature.daba.gov.lv/vecas-piepes-stasti/
The series consists of ten short films, each around two minutes long, on useful themes:
- “Connected Life”: on the connected life of the forest and the great web of life – the ecosystem of a biologically valuable forest;
- “What is a forest?”: on what makes up a forest and how a forest is structured;
- “The Beginning”: on how a forest comes into being and how long it takes;
- “The Big Ones”: on the giants of the forest – large trees and their role in the forest ecosystem;
- “The Small Ones”: on insects, lichens, mosses, fungi, bacteria and the other “small ones” of the forest;
- “The Fallen”: on the importance of fallen trees and their irreplaceable place in a biologically diverse forest ecosystem;
- “Rhythm”: on what goes on in the forest over the course of the year;
- “The Human”: on human impact on the forest and balanced coexistence;
- “The Chessboard”: on forest fragmentation and its impact on biodiversity;
- “The Forest in 100 Years”: how the forest will develop.
“Tales of the Old Bracket Fungus” was created in collaboration with the agency “WKND”, whose witty vision turned scientific information into an engaging, attention-grabbing form suited to social media. The screenplay was written by Liene Brizga-Kalniņa, and experts from the Nature Conservation Agency’s LatViaNature project took part in making the films – Linda Uzule, Sandra Ikauniece, Ivars Leimanis, Ģirts Baranovskis, Ieva Saleniece and Anda Zakenfelde.
The short films “Tales of the Old Bracket Fungus” were produced within the LIFE programme project LatViaNature, implemented by the Nature Conservation Agency, which involves 10 partners – the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, the University of Latvia, Daugavpils University, the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies and Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, as well as the Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre, AS “Latvijas valsts meži”, the Latvian Fund for Nature and the World Wide Fund for Nature.