Management of ancient woodland in the context of ancient peoples.

This has not been a major action because it is necessary to utilise the student / learner placement budget across the whole continuum (a further bid was made for Raphael funding to extend the training, actions but it was not successful). A German forestry student from the Fachhochschule Hildesheim/Holzminden in Gottingen has undertaken survey work of the remnant Atlantic oak forest at Treanlaur in County Mayo and Finnish students from Kuru have done management work on eradication of exotic species in Drowinore National Park, County Clare. Both these actions were placed in the PARABOW context.

Also in Ireland, schoolchildren from Geal School na Cruaiche, undertook basic woodland management in the ancient historical context of the Celtic settlers at Westport in County Mayo. The PARABOW partners all agree that the involvement of the very young in the project's actions is very important, in order to get the message about living archaeology and interactive heritage on a European scale across. It has also been very rewarding to inform young people about the historical movements of peoples across Europe and how it reflects on the diversity of the continent today.

Another advantage in Ireland is the opportunity to see ancient (up to 5,000 year old) trees at first hand. The central and western peat areas are full of ancient pine, oak, alder and rowan. Clark Mactavish's manager, Jerry Hawe has taken groups of junior school children out onto the bog at Turlough to show them ancient tree stumps, full trunks excavated from the peat and the foundation timbers of crannogs on the lochan. Samples of the ancient wood have been taken and sent to the research Instituto per la Ricerca sul Legno in Florence for identification, dating and analysis.

Schoolchildren learned about crannogs and the ancient forests of Ireland from Jerry Hawe on a trip to Turlough which means 'water meadow' in County Mayo

In the United Kingdom, the entire school were invited on two 'woodland days out' during 1998. Both of these were placed in a PARABOW context and involved protecting trees against deer, coppicing, making charcoal and building a wooden shelter with hazel wattle and moss lining in the same way as Saxon charcoal burners were known to practice. Help has been received from the Ruskin Trust at Brantwood and the Forestry Department of the Lake District National Park in respect of the traditional siting for charcoal huts and known designs. It is hoped to extend the idea of this interactive programme to Iceland where charcoal production was a major activity undertaken by Viking settlers and was largely responsible for the dramatic loss of forest cover (23% to 2% over a 1,000 year period).