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19 April 05
North Highland Forest Trust Annual Forum - Huts, Hides and Homes
Lyth Arts Centre, by Wick - Saturday 23rd April 2005
The North Highland Forest Trust is organising a free Community Forestry event, to be held this year in and around the wonderful setting of the Lyth Arts Centre in Caithness. The aim of our Annual Forum is to provide an opportunity for those interested in Community Forestry from across the North of Scotland to meet up, exchange ideas and to celebrate some of the tremendous achievements happening within this area of community and woodland development. In an informal setting we hope to attract a wide range of individuals from both established Community Woodland Groups and other groups/individuals interested in finding out more about how Community Woods might work for them. We also hope to attract many individuals representing organisations working across the field of Community Forestry.

Community Forestry is about a lot more than native trees and dynamic mixed-species woodlands. To illustrate this, we have chosen the theme of Huts, Hides and Homes to allow us to focus on how creating anything from a simple, temporary shelter in a woodland, to building a highly finished wooden building can transform and enhance the potential uses of the woodland space for a wide range of user groups.

As the programme highlights, in the morning and afternoon we will take part in presentations and discussions with invited speakers: including local coppice workers, log builders, planners and architects. Participants will also have an opportunity to look at and, hopefully, to construct some traditional and more modern temporary shelters in the garden of the Arts Centre. And also, perhaps, to take part in a demonstration of simple, traditional building techniques such as wood-cleaving, using locally sourced hardwood material.