The theme of this year’s three-daylong day gathering will be “Upstream/Downstream: looking at how upland management affects farms and settlements on lower lying land”.
A spokesman for the gathering said: “We will be perfectly placed for this, based in Moffat, deep in the southern uplands.
“The southern uplands are home to a lot of commercial forestry and hill sheep farming, plus an increasing number of wild woodland restoration projects.”
The director of Borders Forest Trust (BFT), Jane Rosegrant, will speak about plans for ‘Restoring the Wild Heart of Southern Scotland’; the role of commercial forestry will be given by Andrew Heald of Confor; Robbie Porteous will discuss the community buyout of Gallowhill; and Hugh Chalmers, one of the directors Reforesting Scotland, will pass on some of his expertise in rewilding rivers.
Visits are planned to Peter Dreghorn’s cabin in the woods, to look at river rewilding and BFT sites at the Devil’s Beeftub and Corehead.
The spokesman added: “There will be a range of workshops discussing various woodland policy and practice topics. Practical demonstrations/workshops include knife whittling and possibly cutting joints for a wood cabin.”
The Gathering will be based at the Well Road Centre in Moffat with events kicking off tomorrow.
There is the opportunity to join the Buildings of the Forest tour, which looks at innovative buildings in the forest or using forest material and there will be a ceilidh in Moffat Town Hall with the Whigmaleerie band and the Feral Choir on Saturday night.
For more information go to www.reforestingscotland.org/annual-gathering-2016-moffat/
