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Coming events / News / Offers and requests

Coming events

Non Timber Forest Products research workshop

2nd May 2008

A small participatory workshop on “Barriers and drivers relating to innovation in Non Timber Forest Products in Scotland” will be held at the Birnam Arts & Conference Centre, Birnam, Perthshire on 11 June 2008.

The purpose of this workshop, which will take place prior to a European meeting of forestry researchers on the 12th and 13th of June, is to examine the nature, effectiveness and support for non-wood product innovation in the forest sector. The workshop findings will contribute to collaborative research being undertaken across a number of European countries.

To register or for further information email Diana Feliciano or phone 01224 498200 (Ext. 2362).

News

English bluebells blooming early

13th March 2008

The Natural History Museum reports that bluebells have flowered in February for the first time in the UK.

This comes at the start of this year's online survey of bluebells in the UK. For the third year running members of the public are being asked to look at the bluebells in their local environment, to help build up a picture of the distribution of bluebell species within the UK. Is the native bluebell in danger due to hybridisation with the non-native Spanish bluebell? You can help find out.

ForestHarvest's Scottish Bulb Collection Code pages provide more information about bluebells, and about the issues surrounding bulb harvesting in the UK and abroad.

More information about the trade in wildflower bulbs.

New 'Harvesting guidelines' section on ForestHarvest

8th January 2008

Happy New Year! ForestHarvest is celebrating the start of 2008 by launching a new section on Scotland's sustainable harvesting guidelines.

Sustainable Forest Harvest consultation

12th December 2007

What species or groups of species should Reforesting Scotland's new Sustainable Forest Harvest project focus on? If you'd like to make a suggestion, see Reforesting Scotland's Sustainable Forest Harvest project page for more details.

Reforesting Scotland launches a new project

28th November 2007

Sustainable Forest Harvest - Monitoring NTFP harvests

Reforesting Scotland is pleased to announce the start of a new project to develop participatory monitoring and harvesting guidelines for selected NTFP species in Scotland.

More details on the ForestHarvest projects page

Amazing mosses, fantastic fungi and incredible lichens: new project to boost their conservation in Scotland

28th November 2007

A new project led by Plantlife Scotland will celebrate the amazing world of mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi and the extraordinary richness that exists in Scotland. In a bid to help their conservation and raise awareness of their importance, the newly launched Lower Plants and Fungi project will be providing advice on managing key habitats for rare and threatened species and organising events for people to learn more about them.

Plantlife's new Lower Plant and Fungi Officer is Matilda Scharsach, based in Stirling. She can be contacted on 01786 469778 or click here to email Matilda Scharsach.

New harvesting guidelines - mosses and bulbs

18th September 2007

As NTFP harvesting becomes more popular as part of people's lives and work, concerns are rising about the possible impacts of harvesting. Two new sets of harvesting guidelines - one for mosses and one for bulbs - are now available to help with this issue.

The codes have been produced in consultation with moss harvesters, land managers, species experts and representatives of conservation organisations.

A5 leaflets containing the essentials of the guidelines

are available from:

Dr Dave Genney, Scottish Natural Heritage, Great Glen House, Leachkin Road, Inverness, IV3 8NW, Tel: 01463 725253 (click here to email Dave Genney)

Click here for more information about Scotland's sustainable harvesting guidelines.

Mushroom picking ban in a mid Wales nature reserve

14th September 2007

"A nature reserve in mid Wales is banning all visitors from picking wild mushrooms because it says some species are in decline." Full story on the BBC Wales website

Local fungus expert Daniel Butler has been leading fungus forays in the Elan Estate since 1998. He says the ban, imposed by the Elan Valley Trust, is both unenforceable and unscientific, and that he would defy it. More details on the BBC Wales website

Neolithic chewing gum

19th August 2007

Modern day Finns have found some ingenious uses for their abundance of birch trees, including making a sugar alcohol called xylitol which is used in tooth-friendly chewing gum.

Now one of the world's oldest pieces of chewing gum has been found. It's from Finland - and it was made from birch trees. The Stone Age version was made by heating birch bark in the absence of air, to produce a tar. Like its more high tech counterpart, it also had chemical properties which aided dental health.

Metro.co.uk: "World's oldest chewing gum found"

Kierikki archaelogical centre: "Friday 13th of July was the lucky day at Kierikki Excavation"

Edinburgh Treefest

9-10th June 2007

Popular annual event celebrating all things woody. This year as part of its diverse display, Reforesting Scotland showed examples of Scottish non-timber products and distributed leaflets explaining about the new Scottish Working Woods label.

New woodland products label launched at Touchwood

1 June

Touchwood Festival, combined with this year's Scottish WOODfair and held in Dingwall, was a 2-day event to showcase the diversity of the Highlands’ trees, woods, forests and environment, and networking businesses throughout the 'wood chain', from tree nurseries to wood product manufacturers.

Reforesting Scotland helped to bring a non-wood presence to the event as well, through the Rural Alternatives project, through displaying examples of products from forest harvest businesses, and by its involvement with the new Scottish Working Woods label.

The Scottish Working Woods label was launched at Touchwood, with representatives from trade associations, the Forestry Commission, the press, and woodland products businesses among others. Refreshments included wild garlic cheese and rowan berry jelly kindly donated by local businesses. The label is designed to promote both timber and non-timber products from Scotland's woods.

The Earth’s Blanket

19 April

A talk for Reforesting Scotland by Professor Nancy Turner

Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh

Professor Nancy Turner, an ethnobotanist from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, gave a talk based on her recent book, The Earth's Blanket, which explores the wealth of ecological knowledge and spiritual connection to the natural world that is fundamental to indigenous cultures and lifeways.

Nancy is the author of dozens of books and other publications on plant use by the First Nations of the Pacific North West and is an honorary clan member of several groups. She is also very interested in how we in Scotland value our plants and their traditional and contemporary use.

NTFP Sector Research

31 March 2007

Reforesting Scotland completed an NTFP Sector Research and Development Project at the end of March 2007, exploring ways of supporting Scotland's wild harvesting businesses. The report on the responses from businesses is expected to inform future plans for networking and marketing for the sector.

A big thank you to everyone who participated in this research.

More details on the projects page.

Willow suppliers in Scotland - a dedicated website

February 2007

Many basketmakers, garden landscapers and others looking for willow end up sourcing willow from England or further afield, when we have a lot of willow growing in Scotland.

Willow Scotland is a new website which aims to make it easier for willow users to find willow suppliers. It's been set up using information from research done by Reforesting Scotland in 2004 - information which may of course be out of date; this voluntary project now needs willow users and suppliers to get in touch to help make the list complete and current.

Click here to email Willow Scotland.

The information collected will also feed into the ForestHarvest business directory.

Last updated: 2may08