News Stories

Forestry & Climate Change Training Course in the East Midlands

RDI are delivering the UK's first accredited Forestry and Climate Change Training Course. In recent years, the forestry sector in the UK has been confronted with a growing number of threats from the effects of climate change.   There are an increasing number of pests and diseases such as red band needle blight and phytophthoras.  Extreme and unseasonal weather events and issues of species selection, provenance and forest design are causing foresters to reasses their woodlands and how they manage them.

Exercise Pippin – Wildfire Scenario

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Wildfire 2011 Papers now available

Papers from Wildfire 2011, held in Buxton, Derbyshire in September, are now available online at http://www.ruraldevelopment.org.uk/wildfire-conference.

The conference attracted a wide range of speakers from UK and abroad, presenting on issues ranging from costing wildfires to the role of the National Wildlife Crime Unit in combating arson.

New grant scheme announced for forestry equipment

On Thursday November 10th, Defra announced the launch of the new Farming and Forestry Improvement Scheme (FFIS) - a £20 million pound project to support the farming and forestry sectors until 2013.

Rural Development Initiatives Selected to Deliver Key Industry Projects

Rural Development Initiatives, a not-for-profit project management company with bases in Aberdeenshire, Angus, Northumberland and Yorkshire, have recently been awarded a number of new key rural sector contracts and projects.

Climate Change Seminar brought to East Midlands

Following highly successful events in the North East and Yorkshire, it has been decided to host a 'Climate Change, Woodland Management and the Timber Trade' seminar in the East Midlands. This event will hear from a range of experts from research, policy and industry on the impacts of climate change on forestry and the timber trade in the region, and how the industry can cope, and even profit, with it.

EWWF to meet with government

Following the spate of serious wildfires across the UK in Spring 2011, members of the England and Wales Wildfire Forum are to meet with representatives of the Cabinet Office, Department of Communities and Local Government and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to discuss the current situation with regard to wildfire risk management, including both prevention and suppression.

North Yorkshire Woodfuel Project on You Tube

As part of a project funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, Yorwoods Project Director Will Richardson has appeared on a video explaining how two small rural communities in North Yorkshire went about creating their own woodfuel resource.

Landskills East Midlands continues .......

Ignition11

Following the government’s announcement that the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is to be introduced next year, RDI have decided to follow on the success of the Ignition09 Woodfuel Expo held in Gateshead 2009, with Ignition11