We visited one of our 1% for the Planet environmental partners, Bute Community Forest Trust!
As part of our giving strategy at Dear Green, we have invited environmental partners in Scotland to the 1% for the Planet giving platform to allow us to support local projects and to authentically donate and witness environmentally engaged initiatives receiving funds in our locality. Our founder, Lisa was born on the beautiful island of Bute, this partnership resonates so much more with this personal connection. Martha our Sustainability Coordinator and Alex our Account Manager visited recently to see what projects our donations contribute to.
Alex and Martha made the train, ferry, and bike trip to visit Bute in February and toured the community forest with Richard and Samuel, who work at the trust. It was an amazing trip despite it being mid-February and a bit blustery. Here we share the great conversations we had with Richard, the Chair of Bute Community Forest, and Samuel, the Forest Ranger and Ecologist. They both are so knowledgeable and passionate about restoring Scotland’s natural habitat.
Our business relies heavily on land use and growing coffee in countries far from Scotland, which can create a significant disconnect within the supply chain. Visiting and speaking with Samuel and Richard was incredibly valuable, allowing us to engage directly with the ecosystem and deepen our understanding.
We gathered a lot of information, we suggest you brew a fresh Dear Green coffee and prepare to read on!
About Bute Forest
Bute Community Forest is at the North end of the Isle of Bute and comprises 400 acres of diverse woodland across four areas. It was bought by the Isle of Bute community in 2009 with a vote of 93% in favour of the buy-out. After several years of minimal activity, the last 5 years have seen the Community Forest flourish.
Here is a bit more detail about the four forest areas:
Balnakailly Oak Woodland is the oldest area, being an ancient temperate rainforest close to the scenic (and wet) Kyles of Bute. Its old oaks make up an amazing habitat rich in plants, lichens, and wildlife. Here, the main aims are focused on protecting and improving this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Bullochreg Wood was formerly a plantation, but work is well underway to restore this ground to a fully native woodland of Scots Pine, Aspen, and many other native species.
Tawnich Wood is still largely a Sitka spruce plantation from before the area became a community forest. Plans are afoot to replace this area with native trees, making it a working woodland, a place to learn and practice traditional skills.
Moss Wood. This woodland has been shaped by a history of charcoal production, resulting in a woodland full of early successional species, such as Birch and Alder, with plenty of moss, hence the name. This is where events are hosted for the Trust's outdoor education program.
We interviewed Richard and Samuel. Here's what they both had to say.
To begin, could you both introduce yourselves and explain your role?
Hi, I’m Richard Whitcomb, and I’m the Chair of Bute Community Forest - and have been since 2020. I joined as a Trustee in 2018, with two fellow Trustees, at a time when Community Forest activity had been pared right back. From that time onwards, we’ve sought to actively engage the community - step by step - on our journey of environmental education and nature restoration. Samuel joined us for Graduate Placement in 2021 and has played a key role in the Forest’s development.
I’m Samuel Lindsay, the Forest Ranger and Ecologist for Bute Community Forest. This has very much become a dream project for me, as I get to help shape this amazing woodland while sharing my love of nature with the community. I manage the woodland with conservation and community at the core of all of our projects. It is such an amazing place, and I’m still coming across new things as I explore more of the forest. In addition to this, I lead our outdoor education program and our busy events schedule.
This is maybe quite a simple question, but can you tell us how the forest is doing at the moment?
Richard: We’ve made some really good progress against our twin objectives of community engagement and environmental education, and restoration. A key objective has been to increase the biodiversity of the Community Forest - and so we’re replacing non-native conifer plantations of Sitka and Norwegian Spruce with native Caledonian Scots Pine and broadleaves and creating new habitats. We planted 12,000 Scots Pine in 2024 as Phase 1 and created two new ponds. Phase 2 will see Hazel, Willow, Silver Birch, and other native species planted in our lowland flooded wetland area. Phase 3 will plant an Aspen Cliff. We estimate that the newly replanted area will add 20 species when compared to the previous plantation, a haven for birdlife, flora, and other fauna.
But it’s an ongoing project - we’ve more Sitka spruce ready for harvesting, where we hope to create a sustainable canopy ‘working’ broadleaf woodland - and we’ve our area of ancient oak woodland, our fragment of Atlantic Temperate Rainforest, to nurture and restore. There is much to do, as well as ongoing and active day-to-day management of the Forest.
So when you say you manage a forest, what does that involve, and how does a typical week look?
Samuel:I tend to start my week off behind the desk, catching up on my emails, writing up reports and plans for new and existing projects, and prepping for the week ahead. On Tuesdays, we take our volunteer group out to the forest. Currently, we’re building some new boardwalks out at Balnakailly, working away in the oak woodland with a great team, tunes on, and plenty of tea breaks (compulsory for a productive day).
On Wednesdays, I have 2 classes with the local schools out at the Moss Woods. Activities can range from learning about the different forest plants and animals to survival skills. Most sessions usually ended with the most intense games of hide-and-seek-tag you can imagine (I would like to say I win, but the knee-high forest explorers are just too fast).
Thursdays, I like to keep open for the always-growing list of forest jobs. These can range from clearing a fallen branch from a path to mapping out and surveying some new habitats to scoping out an area for our next event. It’s always such a nice feeling to be out working in the forest, and it’s doing these wee jobs that you get the time to take in the wonderful natural surroundings. Apart from on the days the midges are out, I tend to power through tasks as quickly as possible then…
Ending the week, I have one more class with the final primary school and some time to do more desk work. By this point in the week, I usually don’t mind a good seat behind the laptop to finish things up.
Part of your work is community engagement; how are you engaging with the Bute locals? You had mentioned to us various projects, from working with local schools, to women and refugee groups:
Samuel: We try to engage with as many groups or the local community as possible. We have weekly sessions with all three local primary schools (all year round) and the nursery groups (from mid-spring to mid mid-autumn), so we can confidently say that every nursery and primary-aged child on the island gets to build a relationship with their forest. We are constantly looking for new opportunities to get more people involved with the forest and try to reach out to new groups whenever possible. Last year, we welcomed over 40 people from our refugee community out to a BBQ in the forest for what was an amazing day, with many visiting the forest for the first time. When encouraging new people to visit the forest, we often get invited to host talks/presentations to discuss the project and give people a chance to meet the team. We also host a variety of nature-themed events, such as our fungi foray, wildflower wander, meet the moths (you can tell I like some alliteration), and workshops such as our creative writing, arts, or theatre workshops.
What are future projects, in the short or long term, that you are excited about?
Richard: We’ve already talked about our future replanting plans, and it’s the creation of new woodland and habitats that, for me, is the exciting part. But the really truly exciting thing is taking the community with us on this journey to creating this more biodiverse Community Forest. We had 20-25 folks for our pre-Christmas community planting day, planting 400 Scots Pine, and it’s great to see this very direct connection between the community and their Forest.
Have you noticed Bute Forest being affected by climate change? What climate adaptation and mitigation practices do you have in placeto cope with the risks of climate change?
Samuel:Climate change is affecting habitats all around the world, and our forest is no exception. Within the community forest is Balnakailly Oak Woodland, a temperate rainforest with a rich diversity of mosses and lichens. Temperate rainforests are actually a rarer habitat than tropical rainforests, and this only adds to the importance of protecting them. This year, we are putting together a woodland management plan for this woodland that will focus on improving and protecting this amazing habitat to ensure it is as best prepared for what climate change may bring. One of the ways we will be planning to achieve this is by improving and expanding the woodland’s understory, increasing biodiversity while we’re at it.
Last question: What is your favourite tree in the forest and why?
Richard:For me, it’s the burry old Sessile Oak, a 150 or so metres up the Balnakailly Burn. It features on Peter Quelch’s fascinatingHistoric woods and trees on Bute, and is an oak that has clearly stood for hundreds of years. Once a boundary marker for early farming, it’s set back a little from the path as if to say, “admire me, notice me. Be wise like me”. Broad and bulbous at the base, with multiple chunky limbs spreading from halfway, it is a majestic and awe-inspiring tree. It always arrests me. Makes me just stop, stare, and take a moment out.
We are proud to have such close connections with our environmental partners and happy to give them a platform to share their knowledge.
Click on the link here to become a member, volunteer, or donate to Bute Forest.
A new addition to the forest are two new off-grid huts in Moss Wood, which are now available for overnight stays! You can check availability and book directly and securely using this link.
Be sure to taste our Bute Blend created for our coffee partners at Isle of Bute Coffee.
Lastly, you can follow Bute Forest on Instagram, and you can donate to them here.
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