Does "FOPER" Has Its Own Forest?

Background and Purpose: Nowadays, when the environmental protection is increasingly gaining in importance, initiation such as conversion of productive forest with primary economic functions into forests with special purpose should be positively welcomed. FOPER forest near Varaždin is an example of this kind of conversion. FOPER Forest is one of the outcomes of FOPER Project which was established on the area of South East Europe. FOPER Forest is located on the area of 3.60 ha of the Management Unit "Zelendvor". On one half of that area Research forest was planted, while on the other half Memorial Park will be planted in spring 2013. Overall aims of FOPER Forest is to acquire habits of people who are living in urban areas to visit green areas; to raise their environmental awareness and to strengthen cooperation in education and research; but even more important is strengthening cooperation and friendship in South East Europe (SEE). Specific aim of FOPER Forest is visitors’ education about vegetation of FOPER Project countries in Memorial park and conducting researches in Research part. Material and Methods: Two main methods were used to gather the material on FOPER Project and on FOPER Forest: (I) published literature was reviewed, (II) the Internet and relevant web sites provided access to other information. Results and Conclusion: Good promotions of FOPER Forest can attract potential tourists and visitors and raise not only their environmental awareness, but also their awareness of importance of forestry as profession. They could see that forestry is not narrow profession which deals only with management of forests, but a complex scientific profession, which deals with variety of different fields. FOPER Forest is the great example of the overall guiding principle of FOPER Project which is „learning by doing”.