MEDWAY COMMUNITY FOREST COOPERATIVE

Creating Youth Advocates for Community Greening and Climate Action

Engaging younger generations as environmental advocates who take local action on global issues.

Why this Project Matters

It is critical that we engage youth to work together to ensure the sustainability of our planet. However, the scale of the challenges we face can sometimes seem overwhelming. This project is designed to inspire and engage youth to become environmental advocates who will bring energy and dedication to achieving shared goals such as climate action, waste reduction, and biodiversity conservation.

How the Project Is Engaging Younger Generations to Help them Become Environmental Advocates

This project is organizing and supporting school classes to plant tree saplings and conduct tree health assessments over two years. Three-day facilitated programing explores various topics related to climate adaptivity and forestry in ways that engage younger generations as environmental advocates who take local action on global issues. In addition to planting climate-adaptive tree species, students will take part in an educational program covering the impacts of climate change, climate resilience and adaption, mitigation, tree health assessments, and the benefits of an urban canopy. The project includes three days of facilitated programing to explore various topics related to climate adaptivity and forests. The programming will show younger generations how they can be environmental advocates and take local action while addressing global issues.

SFI’s Contribution

The SFI Community Grant Program is supporting this project. The Atlantic SFI Implementation Committee will also give project members access to the expertise of the SFI network.

How this Project Builds SFI Community Engagement

The projects’ timeline and engagement tactics will help make community connections. Each class will have a small team of volunteer ambassadors responsible for reporting assessment and maintenance activities to the Medway Community Forest Cooperative. Success will be measured by student engagement, community participation, partnerships, and in-kind contributions. The project is expected to track 70 site-specific, climate-adaptive tree saplings and their survival rate over 24 months. Partners will also host numerous community events engaging the wider public beyond the school and class ambassadors.

Partners

This partnership includes educators, researchers, natural resources professionals, government officials, and SFI‑certified companies.

• Project lead: Medway Community Forest Cooperative
• Sustainable forestry Initiative
• Atlantic Canada SFI Implementation Committee
• Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute
• North Queens Community School
• North Queens Board of Trade
• Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry

Related Information

Inside Education Society of Alberta—Alberta School Children See Forest Management In Action

Forest Ontario—SFI Is Helping Students and Teachers Get Firsthand Experience in the Boreal Forest

Forests Ontario—Ontario High Schoolers Experience the Forest

Lesser Slave Forest Education Society—Boreal Forest Field Experiences for Rural and Indigenous Youth

About the Medway Community Forest Cooperative

The Medway Community Forest Cooperative is a member-based community forest operating on 15,000 hectares/37,000 acres of Crown Land in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. The cooperative aims to support local communities through sustainable and ecologically based forest management. The forest land-base is managed to maximize multiple economic, social, and environmental values. The forest is also managed in full consideration of the larger landscape, including protected areas and areas with high conservation values.
Learn more.