This 2-day conference is being organised by SYBRG, and has been proposed by eminent international writer and scholar, Professor George Peterken who will be a key-note speaker.
It will partly celebrate his ground breaking book ‘Meadows’, and will address the history and ecology of wood meadows and pastures, together with their conservation and the potential for re-creation of new areas. It will consider issues around the legacy of the veteran trees in these habitats and the management of younger trees to create ‘veterans’ for the future.
Whilst focusing on the UK, it is hoped that there will be speakers from other European countries with different traditions of managing these areas. The event is being supported by the Ancient Tree Forum, Woodland Trust and Hagge Woods Trust. Other sponsors and supporters such as the British Ecological Society and the National Trust are being contacted. The event will bring together ecologists, landscape historians, land managers and conservationists. The conference will include a field visit, poster presentations and displays.
This is one of the events in the programme of ‘Wilder Visions- re-constructing nature for the 21st century’ series running over the next 3 years to a landmark conference in 2019.
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If you would like to offer a paper (oral or poster) or support for the conference and / or to be put on the mailing list for more information, please email or telephone 0114 272 4227.
This landmark event comes at a time of colossal challenges for nature conservation – with globalisation, climate change, and economic austerity just a few of the issues. As a part of the overview of the themes of the conference, Ian Rotherham will present a review of the ideas stimulated by the works of Frans Vera, the late Oliver Rackham, and of George Peterken in driving forwards our understanding of ‘Woods’, ‘Wood Meadows’ and ‘Wood Pastures’ in landscape evolution. The presentation will review the impact of Vera’s ideas and how these can fit into robust frameworks of ecology, and of ecological and social history. This will address issues of historical derivation and continuity in landscapes, and of ‘futurescapes’ and ‘Wilder Visions’ – understanding the past to inform the present and to guide the future.
There will also be a launch of Ian’s book Shadow Woods – the search for lost landscapes.
More information and updates can be found on the website