Course: Stepping Stone Woodland Creation (Climate FORTH - Contractor Environmental Skills)

Join us for our third Climate FORTH Environmental Skills Session at Ochil Hills, Tillicoultry - Stepping Stones project.

Climate FORTH - Contractor Environmental Skills – Stepping Stones, Ochil Hills, Tillicoultry, Upland Woodland Creation

TCV in partnership with Climate FORTH are delivering a series of 8 on site environmental skills sessions to build skills, confidence and experience in habitat management techniques that deliver climate adaptation and mitigation.

This workshop series is aimed at contractors, land managers and people looking to move in to the environmental sector.

All events in this series are standalone events covering different topics/areas, you do not need to have attended previous events and you are welcome to attend multiple.

Our third session will be held at Ochil Hills, Tillicoultry hosted by the Forth Climate Forest. Session will be led by Guy Harewood - Development Officer, Forth Climate Forest.

In this session we will discuss:

• The design and development of woodland creation projects within the Ochils.
• Integrating trees with existing land uses.
• Considerations when delivering environmental projects in upland areas and on challenging sites.
• What are the skills needed to deliver this work in the future.

The Forth Climate Forest and the Ochil Hills

The Forth Climate Forest (FCF), launched in 2023, is a tree planting initiative that aims to help combat the twin crises of Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss within the Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling Council areas. Project activities are focussed around 4 key themes of Community, Canopy, Carbon and Connectivity.

FCF has commissioned several pieces of work to help us to determine the areas that should be the focus of our efforts to increase woodland connectivity. The Ochil Hills, particularly the steep southern face that runs through Clackmannanshire, is one of these areas. The Woodland Connectivity StoryMap explains how the analysis was carried out.

FCF employed TCV and their volunteers to plant ‘stepping stones’ in the Ochils north of Tillicoultry. These are small areas, approx. 5mx5m, that have trees densely planted and are protected by gorse dead hedges. They are positioned to help connect the areas of remnant woodland and scattered trees that are present and improve connectivity within one of our priority gap sites.

FCF has also commissioned a consultant to work with the landowners and the tenant farmer to identify opportunities for larger scale tree planting/woodland creation on the south face of the Ochils. This will focus on areas that are steeply sloping or dominated by bracken and gorse.