The Community Woodlands Association (CWA), Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise joined forces on the study, which looked at how well the Commission’s community partnerships had fared over the past 10 years.
Access to new recreation facilities and community empowerment scored highly on the list of benefits achieved through the partnerships.
Scottish forestry minister Rhona Brankin said FCS had a strong tradition of working closely with communities all over the country. “It is good to hear the partnerships are working well and providing value to communities living in and around forests and woodlands.”
Piers Voysey said the study had been useful in showing the CWA areas for improvement. “We want to make sure that more community partnerships can benefit by learning from other partnerships and community woodlands,” he said.
