Community Woodlands Association

 

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» Do you have a project to tell us about?
» Rural Alternatives Shared Futures project
» Albanach - Promoting Scotland’s Woodland Culture
» Northern WoodHeat

Member Group Project Showcase

Do you have a project to tell us about?

This is the place for member groups to showcase their projects.  Whether you are in the early development stages or have completed an exciting project please let us know and we will post it up here for you.

We need you to tell us what you are up to so contact Diane if you would like to showcase your projects.

Rural Alternatives Shared Futures project

A few years ago, when Reforesting Scotland started working on non-timber forest products (NTFPs), virtually no one knew what this term meant. Now interest in NTFPs has grown, both as things that people gather for domestic use and as a commercial harvest. Over the last few years, Reforesting Scotland has tried to develop and distribute information for people who are interested in starting small-scale NTFP enterprises. The Rural Alternative Shared Futures project (RAP) arose because without practical examples of how NTFPs can be developed, it is difficult to demonstrate what NTFP enterprises could do for rural communities. Four community woodland groups were involved in helping to develop NTFP businesses and write up case studies…

The Rural Alternatives Shared Futures project was designed to show what community woodland groups could do with their local NTFPs - to get to the stage where small enterprises could be set up and to use those examples to demonstrate to other community groups how they could develop NTFPs themselves. Non-timber forest products in Scotland are under-used and have enormous potential to provide more cultural, environmental and economic benefits - provided they are harvested sustainably. The project has provided support to partner communities to develop NTFP use and benefits locally, and to develop ideas and learn lessons that will enable and stimulate wider use and appreciation for NTFPs in Scotland.The Rural Alternatives Shared Futures project focused on four community woodland groups. However, it is hoped that other groups in these areas will also become involved and be able to benefit. The first three groups to get involved were Culag Community Woodland group (Lochinver), groups based in the Sunart Oakwoods area (Acharacle) and Tinne Beag Workers’ Coop (Newton Stewart).  Kirkhill and Bunchrew Community Trust (Kirkhill/Bunchrew) joined in February 2006.

Reports from the Rural Alternatives Shared Futures project, including formal reports to funders, six case studies from project partner communities, and articles by project manager Jake Paul, can be found on the Rural Alternatives Shared Futures project reports page.

The team behind the project

Hilary MacDonald-  local co-ordinator for Culag Community Woodland group (Lochinver).

Isabel Isherwood  - local co-ordinator for Sunart Oakwoods area (Acharacle).

Helen MacGillevary of Sgilean Na Coille has also been involved in coordinating the training events for Sunart.

Jeff Colhoun - local co-ordinator for Tinne Beag Workers’ Coop (Newton Stewart).

Les Bates - local co-ordinator for Kirkhill and Bunchrew Community Trust (Kirkhill/Bunchrew).

Jake Paul - is the national Project Manager for Rural Alternatives Shared Futures, based in the Reforesting Scotland office in Edinburgh.

Albanach - Promoting Scotland’s Woodland Culture

Are you a supplier of Scottish woodland products or produce ??

Albanach is looking to grow and extend its supply chain participants. If you are or know of a supplier, producer or.........  

manufacturer of purely Scottish woodland product then get in touch. Albanach is Scotland’s leading consumer label and is the recognised mark of assurance that actively encourages dynamic woodland activity. Promoting the very best of traditional craft skills, innovative product design and produce development - Albanach - promoting Scotland’s woodland culture. www.albanach.org.uk

Northern WoodHeat

Northern WoodHeat, is a Northern Periphery Programme funded project managed by Highland Birchwoods with partners in Scotland, Iceland and Finland. The partners in Scotland include two community woodlands, Dunnet Forestry Trust and Abriachan Forest Trust. Northern WoodHeat aims to set up small and medium scale woodfuel supply chains optimising benefits to local communities.

Wood is the most plentiful source of renewable energy in Northern Europe, and is currently under-exploited. It can be used in a variety of forms and at a range of scales, from stoves for domestic heating up to combined heat and power plants heating whole communities.

All three partner countries have substantial woodfuel resources in peripheral areas with scattered small population centres. Additionally, they all have difficulties maintaining forest thinning programmes because of poor markets for the harvested material. This can have an adverse impact timber quality, reducing the value of the timber crop, restricting both the profitability of forestry and options for local added value processing, which in turn limits its contribution to rural development. Local woodfuel markets could help to reverse this trend by reducing haulage costs, thereby improving the timber return from thinnings and final crops in peripheral areas remote from main markets.
The participating countries are at varying stages of woodfuel development. Finland has a well established industry, but it is constantly seeking ways to further develop markets, particularly at the smaller scale. Scotland has a fledgling woodfuel industry that faces the problems of variable fuel quality and lack of potential customer confidence in the security of supply, and entrepreneurial uncertainty concerning long term market development. In Iceland, wood energy is almost entirely undeveloped. Use the links from this page to find out more about Northern WoodHeat, what it aims to do and how the objectives will be achieved in each of the participating countries. These pages will be updated regularly as the project progresses.