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» Arts, Culture, Heritage Network» Networking and Sharing of Information
» Training
» ELAV: Enhancing local activity and values - An International Community Forestry Project
» Forestry Commission/Community Partnerships, Research
CWA Project Showcase
ELAV: Enhancing local activity and values - An International Community Forestry ProjectThe Community Woodlands Association has been one of 16 partners from 5 nations (Sweden, Norway, Finland & Iceland are the others) who were working on ELAV, a 3 year international project, funded by the EU Northern Periphery Program, designed to widen the scope of community involvement in forestry. The project is now completed with the full report pending. A follow on project is now underway to develop a Forest Park in the area.
The Scottish ELAV project area was located in South East Sutherland, which has a wide range of forest types and ownerships, and several active community woodland groups. A Scottish Project Officer has been employed from Jan 2006 to Dec 2007.
The project allowed the local community to lead the development of a strategic plan for local forestry, focusing on how new and existing forests can be established and managed to optimise their long-term contribution to the sustainable development of the local community.
The project also supported 8 international exchanges of up to 4 persons each to our international partners. Exchange participants had experience of and/or interest in one (or more) of four themes: community woodland development, tourism (based on forest land and resources), exploitation of non-timber forest products, and local processing of forest products (from craft scale to small sawmill).
You can download the reports from the exchanges here.
Sweden Dec 2005 - General overview and introduction to the project area (word Doc)
Sweden Sept 2006 - Non Timber Forest Products (word Doc)
Norway Dec 2006 - Wood Fuel and Timber Processing (pdf 152kb)
Finland May 2007 - General overview, Forest Planning focus (pdf 425kb)
Norway June 2007 - Multiple use forestry (word doc)
Iceland Aug 2007 - Birchwood regeneration(pdf 403kb)
Finland Sept 2007 - Tourism (pdf 445kb)
Sweden Oct 2007 - Final Conference (word doc)
East Sutherland Final Report - Final Report (pdf 821K)
East Sutherland Woodland Inventory - Final Report (pdf 1MB)
The resulting community consultation has led to a further ELAV project exploring the potential for a Forest Park in the area. More information on the outcomes of this project is available from the main ELAV website http://www.elavproject.com/scotland/scostart.php?sidnr=1