Galicia: Forest Management & Traditional Wood Skills
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Galicia: Forest Management & Traditional Wood Skills

This trip gave me an insight into an incredible culture and history that I had not experienced before. It is clear that the people of Galicia value, nurture and benefit significantly from their local forests. Local timber is embedded in their culture and much of what they produce, from musical instruments, footwear and tableware, to architecture and furniture. Throughout this trip, we met communities who are connected to their woodlands; there is an embedded culture of community ownership and diverse use of their local natural resources.

Observing Agri-Forestry in Southern Spain
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Observing Agri-Forestry in Southern Spain

A visit to a working farm in southern Spain, approximately 70 km north of Seville.
The farm, Dehesa San Francisco, is in the Huelva province of Andalucía, close to the village of Santa Olalla del Cala. The farm is owned by the Fundación Monte Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Mountain Foundation) and has been managed by Ernestine Lüdeke and her husband for approximately 30 years.

SPAIN: Course Woodworking tradition & innovation in Galicia
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SPAIN: Course Woodworking tradition & innovation in Galicia

Woodworking & forest management: tradition and innovation in Galicia. Update March 2022: we are talking with our hosts to determine new dates for this course.  Participants from the postponed course in 2020 will be offered first choice on any rescheduled courses in 2022. As soon as we have course dates and communicated with the 2020 group […]

Film: Dehesa – A Spanish Agroforestry Farming System & Implications for Scotland
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Film: Dehesa – A Spanish Agroforestry Farming System & Implications for Scotland

There are very few contemporary examples of agroforestry in Scotland today, so to help land managers visualise what this system could look like and how it might work on your farm, we have made a short film about a living, working agroforestry farm in the south of Spain. The system is called Dehesa, and although the climate is different, the Dehesa has many parallels with marginal land in the Scottish uplands.

Field Notes: Integrating livestock with woodland
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Field Notes: Integrating livestock with woodland

Overall, though, I was most struck by the interplay and interdependency of the different land uses and incredible attention to detail in the management of the trees, pasture and livestock. Just one example of this was learning of the special calculation done each year into the anticipated acorn crop and limit set accordingly on the number of pigs that can be reared in order to retain organic status for pork production. Such an ethos is surely something that John Muir would have approved of, regardless of whether in sunny, southern Spain or on the side of a somewhat soggier Scottish mountain:-  “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” 

Lessons learn from the Spanish “dehesa”: a new model for Scottish agriculture & woodland management?
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Lessons learn from the Spanish “dehesa”: a new model for Scottish agriculture & woodland management?

The holistic approach to land management that is the defining feature of the dehesa system of land management provides an opportunity to consider how the historic, largely sectoral approaches to Scottish agriculture and woodland/forestry could be better integrated for the benefit of people, nature and the wider environment. Such a shift in thinking could be of particular value to agriculture on marginal land. Tree and animal species would necessarily differ from those in Spain but, for example, fruit trees could be expected to have a particular role given their nutritional value for livestock as well as opportunities for a crop and fruit-related products.

The Dehesas of Southern Spain
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The Dehesas of Southern Spain

I have a newfound appreciation for this sense of balance that maximises environmental and social priorities, something that can be difficult to achieve. This study visit has emphasised the global importance of this system (in terms of preventing desertification), whilst also providing a shining example for sustainable, biodiversity-friendly land management systems elsewhere in Europe.

Transhumance in the 21st Century – a social & ecological model
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Transhumance in the 21st Century – a social & ecological model

Transhumance is an ancient practice of moving animals between regions to benefit from the best grazing at the best time of year. The loss of this transhumance has impacts in both Andalusia and the north. In Andalusia the sheep remain on the same ground throughout the year which increases the pressure on the available grazing and is detrimental to the soil. In the north the lack of annual grazing has led to abandonment of pastures, which are infilled with continuous forest or scrub cover, which lowers biodiversity and increases the risk of fire.

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