A major international conference ‘The end of tradition? Aspects of Commons and Cultural Severance’ took place in mid Sept 2010 organised by Ian Rotherham, Christine Handley and their colleagues at Sheffield Hallam University. This excellent and thought-provoking conference featured many papers relevant to cultural wooded landscapes and addressed the global challenge of conserving biodiversity as traditional management practices elapse around the world.
Peter Quelch gave a paper on North British upland wood pastures which drew upon evidence from some of the historic landscapes we have investigated jointly, such as South Katrineside, where we have a good handle on the age and management history of the wood pastures. The conference proceedings will be available for purchase from the organisers soon, and will include Peter’s paper.