In reality, it was a one-week seminar. Although a significant number of individuals helped establish Metsaülikool, it could be argued that the founding fathers were Olev Träss, Vello Soots, Andres Raudsepp, Henno Sillaste and Heino Jõe. This great tradition has spread around the world and continues to this day. Today, the atmosphere is more laid back. In the past, the debates were more heated when Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union.
The same Metsaülikool format spread to the West Coast of the USA, Australia, Sweden, and eventually to Estonia for the first time in 1989, when the Soviet Union was crumbling. Many of these initiatives lasted for years, but today, two Metsaülkoolid remain. The original one at Kotkajärv, Ontario (most recently August 21st to 27th, 2022) and a second one in Eesti, at the University of Tartu's sports centre in the southern Estonian village of Kääriku (most recently August 17th to 21st, 2022).
If you are a regular reader of Eesti Elu, then you have probably come across numerous articles on Kotkajärve Metsaülikool. As fewer Eesti Elu readers from North America make it to Kääriku Metsaülikool (a three and a half hour drive south of Tallinn), the following is a summary of this year's Kääriku Metsaülikool (Kääriku MÜ).
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