“Mountain Woodlands: Benefits for all.”
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
1st and 2nd October 2010

Friday 1st October
10:00am Registration
10:30am Welcome and introduction – Cliff Beck, Highland Birchwoods
10:35 am Mountain woodlands – Michael Scott, writer and international conservationist

“What are we missing? The benefits of mountain woodlands”
Chair: TBC
11:00 am Insects of mountain woodlands – Iain MacGowan (SNH)
11:10 am Birds of mountain woodlands – John Calladine, British Trust for Ornithology
11:20 am Fungi of mountain woodlands – Andy Taylor/Emily Carroll, Macaulay Institute
11:30 am Norwegian perspectives – Duncan Halley/Dagmar Hagen, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
11:50 am Scottish perspectives – Rob Soutar, Forestry Commission Scotland
12:10 pm Wider issues of mountain woodlands, Diana Gilbert, Macaulay Institute

12:30 pm LUNCH

“AMWood – successes and lessons learned”
1:30 pm Over view of the AMWood project – William Bodles (AMWood Project Manager)

“Mountain woodlands: the management challenge”
1:55 pm Workshop 1 - Practical considerations – propagation, nurseries, planting, fencing
Chair: Alison Hester, Macaulay Institute
2:55 pm Coffee
3:15 pm Workshop 2 - Land use perspectives, incentives and successes, conflicts and their resolution
Chair: Alison Hester, Macaulay Institute

“Where do we go from here? The future for mountain woodlands in Scotland”
Chair: Richard Birnie, Macaulay Institute
4:15 pm Open floor discussion session
4:45 pm Summation and closing - Simon Pepper (SNH Board member)

7:30 pm Dinner and Ceilidh
 

 If you wish to attend please use the online booking system: http://www.keycs.com/event/displayEvent.asp?eventid=36

Saturday 2nd October
We are holding an open open day for all. There will be stalls from FCS, SNH, RSPB, Trees for Life, Cairngorm Mountain and Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park, as well as interactive workshops on plant identification and uses for wildplants.

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

View the  programme for the conference 'Managing and Utilising Scots Pine in the Northern Periphery' taking place at the Strathpeffer Pavilion on the 24th and 25th of August.

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

The Finnish Forest Research Institute is publishing an in-depth technical review of Scots pine, detailing its properties and suitability to different uses. The key findings of the review have been surmised and published as web pages online.

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

The Scottish Government have announced modifications to the SRDP Rural Priority Woodland Improvement Grant options which now include standard cost capital items for manual and mechanised eradication of rhododendron.

Standard cost capital items for rhododendron eradication have been increased to £3,700/ha for manual eradication and £1,750/ha for mechanised eradication, for all relevant Rural Priorities Options.

For more information, visit the SDRP website

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

The world would still need to take urgent action to restore its lost and degraded forests even if the climate were not changing, an international forestry conference has heard.
However, climate change made the problem of forest loss and degradation even more urgent, Tim Rollinson, Director-general of the British Forestry Commission, told the 18th Commonwealth Forestry Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Deforestation is the second-biggest source of the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. However, in his concluding speech, Mr Rollinson noted that the conference had heard many examples of the serious problems that forest loss and degradation cause in addition to helping to cause climate change.
These included water supplies drying up – even to the point where hydro-electric power stations can cease to operate – and crop failures, fuel shortages, flooding, drought, loss of species and community stress. Poor people who depend on forests for high proportions of their livelihoods are invariably the worst affected.
The conference also heard a number of examples from around the world where forest restoration projects had reversed the fortunes of local communities. Water and fuel supplies had been revived, soil fertility had improved, wildlife had returned, the ability to grow crops and keep farm animals had improved, floods and droughts had decreased I number and severity, and the forests supported a wide range of subsistence and commercial enterprises.
However, Mr Rollinson added,
“It is worth reminding ourselves that forest restoration is not just simply a matter of planting trees.
“It is about restoring the functionality of ecosystem services, restoring whole landscapes, improving lives and empowering people to shape a sustainable future for themselves.
“Ultimately, it is about sustaining life on Earth, and communities supported by healthy trees and forests are better able to cope with the changes that climate change is going to bring, such as hotter temperatures, more floods and droughts, and storms of greater number and severity.”
The conference final session also heard from Pavan Sukhdev, Study Leader of a major international study into The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). He said governments and businesses were increasingly recognising the true cash value of “ecosystem services” such as those provided by forests, and the costs of damaging and restoring them.
Ecosystem services include things such as fresh water, fresh air, clean soil, flood and drought prevention and mitigation, biodiversity, and supplies of food and other products.
This meant that in evaluating proposals for exploiting natural resources, the financial costs of losing or damaging those services and restoring them later were increasingly being taken into account. This was enabling a different economic view to prevail that made avoidance, mitigation and restoration of damage financially worthwhile.
The proceedings of the conference will be published on its website, www.cfc2010.org within the next few weeks.
 

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

A final call has gone out to small-medium sized businesses across Scotland encouraging them to take advantage of Scottish Government funding that will help them make the switch to biomass heating.

But anyone interested had better apply soon because the popularity of the scheme means that only limited funds remain!

The Cabinet Secretary for the Environment & Rural Affairs announced the final call at a Low Carbon Economy Conference held in Dunblane on Wednesday 2 June.

The financial support – which is also available to develop district heating schemes – can be obtained from the Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme, administered by Forestry Commission Scotland, and must be for projects that can be completed by March 2011.

Rebecca Carr, for Forestry Commission Scotland, said:

“This is an ideal opportunity for organisations that would like to make the change to biomass but that have been put off because they’ve not been eligible for SRDP or CARES funding.

“It’s open to anyone in Scotland but we’re particularly keen to see more applications from the Highlands & Islands and from private developers for district heating schemes. They’ll be given priority.

“Anyone interested has until 30 September to apply – but judging from how well this has gone so far the funds may not last that long so you’d best get your applications in soon!”

Applicants should submit an initial enquiry form that outlines their project details, however for a project to be considered for fast-tracking to the full assessment stage, a full application must be submitted. Forms can be found at www.usewoodfuel.co.uk

Projects must clearly demonstrate that they can be complete by March 2011. Therefore projects which have a completed specification, planning permission, match finance in place and can demonstrate a secure fuel supply will be a priority for fast-tracking.

For more information contact the Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme team through www.usewoodfuel.co.uk or at 01349 860 919

The SBHS is funded by the Scottish Government, Forestry Commission Scotland and the European Regional Development Fund.

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

In April architects and specialists in timber engineering took part in a 3 day study tour to Trondheim organised by the Norwegian forest and Landscape Institute to learn about the use of engineered timber products in construction. There was a strong focus on the manufacture and use of laminated timber products including cross laminated timber in residential and commercial buildings, and stress laminated timber in bridges.

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

Community groups with an interest in woodland management or woodland-related developments in East Sutherland and around the Kyle of Sutherland can now use the 'Go & See' travel fund to visit projects throughout Scotland before 30th September 2010.

For more information, download the Note to Applicants and an Application Form

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

Get out and explore the fascinating woodland history of East Sutherland with the new East Sutherland Woodland's walks leaflet. Look out for a free leaflet in local tourist attractions and information points or download it now from the 'Publications' section of the Highland Birchwoods website

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website

Highland Birchwoods 'Use Green Heat' project and the Micro-Renewable Centre at Inverness College-UHI are joining forces to put on a series of evening seminars, starting on the 23rd of June at 1830 with 'The Microregeneration Scheme: Everything you need to know'. This event aims to take you through the MCS process, and is your... chance to talk to the assessors and installers that have been through the assessment scheme.

To book a place please email Amanda Calvert at amanda.calvert@highlandbirchwoods.co.uk

This feed was drawn from the Highland Birchwoods website