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Woodland Research Group
Based in the Highlands of Scotland and established in Autumn 2009, the Woodland Research Group was formed to develop research projects covering all aspects of the functioning, management and utilisation of woodlands with a regional focus on the Highlands and Islands.
The group is lead by a partnership of Highland Birchwoods and Inverness College UHI and brings together a wealth of expertise in applied research in woodland ecology, forest management and timber utilisation including specialist expertise in woodfuel, sustainable forestry, woodland palaeoecology and scrub ecology. The Group has an Advisory Panel drawn from public and private sector interests which will drive its strategic and operational direction.
The WRG concentrates on applied research and the application of existing knowledge to the development of best practice, and retains a Highlands and Islands context to its activities. The research priorities reflect current shifts in land management objectives and their degree of integration. It focuses on key issues facting woodlands and forest, taking a lead from the member strategies, in particular the Scottish Forest Strategy, Forestry Commission's Science and Innovation Strategy, Highland Council's Forestry Strategy, the UHI Research Strategy, SEPA's Research Strategy and SNH's Research Strategy. There is an emphsis on current issues affecting woodlands and forestry.
Current Projects
The WRG is represented in a COST Action project called 'Forest Energy Action'. It brings together a network of over 30 countries worldwide, looking at the development and harmonisation of new operational research and assessment procedures for sustainable forest biomass supply.
The use of forest biomass for energy is an increasingly important topic, especially in the light of the debate on climate change. Forest biomass offers the largest potential as a renewable fuel, but a reliable and sustainable supply of forest fuel needs to be ensured and new technological solutions to procure forest biomass are needed. By harmonising the research methodologies in forest biomass operations research it is anticipated that more solid conclusions can be drawn from research results since the Action enables more comparable repititions of studies across Europe. The Action aims to ensure that research results are more comparable and the generalisation of research results is improved.
The Action will provide an original synthesis of multidisciplinary research efforst and innovative reference for forest biomass for energy terminology, sampling methods, standard measurements, and research methdodologies. This synthesis will promote the increase in the use of forest biomass for energy as laid out in the EU strategies.
The networking concept of the COST Action means that the most suitable research methods can be identified, harmonised and standardised throughout the EU. By doing this it will provide a more solid basis for the decision making on national and EU levels on biomass supply.
MSc by Research Project in woodfuel supply
Chris Perkins (based at Highland Birchwoods) has recently gained his MSc by Research with Distinction. His thesis is entitled: 'A GIS Decision Support System for Emerging Woodfuel energy markets', and aims to produce and test a replicable Decision Support System to enable potential actors in the woodfuel supply chain to assess the economic and environmental potential for hte installation of woodfuel technology.
Scottish School of Foresty, Inverness College UHI - woodfuel supply chain study
The SSF based at the Balloch campus installed a woodfuel boiler in 2007 to heat the existing buildings on the site (previously heated by electric storage heaters) and to supply woodchip to two other woodfuel boilers in the surrounding area - one at the new Culloden Battlefield site visitor centre, the other at the FC offices at Smithton. Data has been collected from the supply chain and heating requirements of this functioning woodfuel district heating scheme and functioning supply chain. The data will be analysed to critically assess the viability of this real life local woodfuel use in the Highlands.
Information about the SSF woodfuel boiler and supply chain can be downloaded as pdf from this link.
Past Projects
The NPP Northern WoodHeat project aimed to set up small and medium scale woodfuel supply chains optimising benefits to local communities.
The mechanical timber industry is a vital source of employment across the Northern Periphery and is characterised by small and medium sized enterprises. The greatest hindrance to the success of these small and family enterprises in the NPP region is the lack of co-operation, networking, and marketing know-how, and particularly in Sweden and Scotland, the lack of technology expertise. In addition to this, the problems relating to the dispersion of innovations generated, as well as the quality and price of the raw materials and pre-form production relating to the innovations are a hindrance to the development and internationalisation of the mechanical timber industry.
The BITWON innovation network, investigate, developed and commercialised heat-treated, oil-treated and pressed timber products from the northern periphery area that can be utilised by the DIY and construction markets int he EU region. These products were developed and modified using innovative ideas exchanged by SMEs from the development programme, thereby creating more environmentally friendly products than may of those currently on offer. These products are suitable for the needs of dwelling, interior decorating and construction.
Through collaboration with the Agronomy Institute at Orkney College UHI, both Highland Birchwoods and Inverness College UHI have been involved in two projects involving the trialing and development of short rotation coppice of willow for biomass in Orkney.
