Community woodland group Case Studies

There are now over 650 community woodland groups in England, Scotland and Wales. Groups are keen to learn from each other’s experiences, whilst policy stakeholders seek evidence of the effectiveness of past and current policy. However, evidence about community forestry tended to exist in a variety of forms that were difficult to compare.

Published in August 2013 “A framework for sharing experiences of community woodland groups” provides a robust approach to describing community woodland models in the documentation of case studies and the sharing of experiences and learning. Five dimensions of community forestry are included:

1. History of the group
2. Institutional context
3. Group organisation and structures
4. External links
5. Resources, including the woodland as well as skills, knowledge and finance

The framework enables comparisons between case studies, and between different points in time within a single case study. The rigorous approach to description also helps evaluation and impact assessment of community-delivered forestry.

A set of 40 case studies were undertaken using the framework, and are in the process of publication.

A collection of case studies commissioned by Forest Research between 2009-2012 in collaboration with colleagues from Llais y Goedwig, the Community Woodlands Association, Coed Lleol, the Small Woods Association, and Silvanus Trust, includes:

• case studies of 4 groups in the South West of England in 2012
• A report that describes 6 groups in Scotland in 2012
• A short report providing detail of 11 case studies in Scotland in 2009
• Two reports scoping the characteristics of community woodland groups in England in 2009 and 2010 including 23 and 15 cases studies respectively
• A baseline scoping study in 2009 describing 14 case studies from Wales
• Local Authorities in Scotland^(PDF-191KB)

Contact

Dr Bianca Ambrose-Oji