Dyke, Alison Jane (2006) The practice, politics and ecology of non timber forest products in

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Dyke, Alison Jane (2006) The practice, politics and ecology of non
timber forest products in Scotland. PhD thesis.

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THE PRACTICE, POLITICS AND ECOLOGY OF
NON TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS IN SCOTLAND
ALISON JANE DYKE
PhD
Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Glasgow
May 2006
© Alison Jane Dyke 2006
IMAGING SERVICES NORTH
Boston Spa, Wetherby
West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ
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The Practice, Politics and Ecology of Non Timber Forest Products in
Scotland.
Alison Dyke
Non timber forest products are the neglected resource of Scotland's woodlands,
used by many, but with little provision in law, policy or management. Drawing on
new research conducted in Scotland, and comparative studies in Finland, the
Pacific Northwest USA and Canada, this thesis examines issues relating to the
practice, politics and ecology of NTFPs. In doing so it uncovers and appraises
the current state of NTFP use in Scotland.
The methodological approaches used in the field research are set out in
Chapter One, which also details the employment of theories of political ecology
and access in the subsequent analysis. Chapters Two to Five explore the
perspectives of stakeholder groups, who either use NTFPs directly or who
influence the availability of resources and the ability of others to access them.
The first of these groups is harvesters, with Chapter Two examining how issues
of legal pluralism or the coexistence of both legal and customary rights for
harvesting has resulted in the dominance of common practice over
management and policy. Chapter Three discusses buying and processing
activity, focussing on its contribution to both livelihood and lifestyle and its
position 'somewhere in between' commercial and non-commercial benefit. The
influence of land managers is examined in Chapter Four, reviewing the contrast
between the privileged knowledge that enables harvesters to use resources,
and the reliance on professionalised knowledge that renders land managers
comparatively powerless. In Chapter Five the influence of organisations is
explored, particularly in relation to the difficulty of accommodating the interests
of such disparate groups without formal channels for representation.
Through out these chapters, evidence is presented of how domestically
produced NTFPs are used in Scotland and the social, cultural and ecological
factors that determine and delimit NTFP involvement and harvesting. The thesis
concludes by addressing policy and management concerns, both practical and
ideological, and considering mechanisms for the management of NTFPs as a
resource. It demands that ethical questions over benefits, values and rights be
addressed, as well as issues surrounding sustainability and resource use. In
pulling together the narratives of the different groups, the conclusion seeks to
present a new system for the self-governance of NTFP resources by the
stakeholders themselves.
ii
I would like to thank those who funded all or parts of this study: particularly
ESRC and NERC as main supporters, Scottish Enterprise, Central Scotland
Forest Trust and the H K Harbinson Trust.
I am also grateful to my collaborating organisation, Reforesting Scotland, for
providing me with office space and inspiring and supportive colleagues and
friends. Thanks to my supervisors: Nick Hanley and Adrian Newton (who
encouraged me to get into this in the first place).
It is impossible to mention everyone who participated in the research, but I
would like to recognise the central contribution of all the interviewees, workshop
participants and more casual contacts over the years. Thanks particularly to
those who have helped to arrange overseas fieldwork: Ashley Selby (METLA),
Simo Moisio (Arctic Flavours) and Rebecca McLain (The Institute for Culture
and Ecology). I would also like to thank Rebecca and Marla Emery for the way
in which they have helped to shape my thinking.
Finally, thanks to my partner Matthew Reason, for constant encouragement and
support.
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TABLE OF COf'.jTENTS
Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1
Section 1: Introducing non timber forest products ............................................ 1
Non timber forest products in Scotland ........................................................ 1
Section 2: The practice, politics and ecology of NTFPs in Scotland ................ 4
Section 3: Structure and reflections ................................................................. 5
Study content ............................................................................................... 6
Chapter 1: Methodology and methods ................................................................ 9
Section 1: Methodology ................................................................................... 9
Research approaches and strategy ............................................................. 9
Disciplinary approaches to studying NTFP use. ......................................... 15
Methods of data collection and analysis ..................................................... 18
Section 2: Methods ........................................................................................ 21
Stakeholder analysis .................................................................................. 21
Data collection techniques ......................................................................... 25
The studies ................................................................................................. 28
Section 3: Limitations of the data ................................................................... 40
Section 4: Ethics ............................................................................................ 41
Chapter 2: Harvesters ....................................................................................... 45
Section 1: Harvesting activity ......................................................................... 45
Who are NTFP harvesters? ....................................................................... 45
Harvesting values and activities ................................................................. 52
Categorising NTFP use .............................................................................. 60
Section 2: Harvesting and access to resources ............................................. 66
Access to resources ................................................................................... 67
Structural reflection on Ribot and Peluso's framework ............................. 1 00
Summary and key points .......................................................................... 102
Chapter 3: Processors and buyers .................................................................. 1 07
Section 1: Processing and buying activity .................................................... 1 07
Commercial activity .................................................................................. 1 08
Non-commercial activity ........................................................................... 124
Section 2: The impacts of access to resources on buyers and processors. 126
Structural and relational mechanisms of access ...................................... 133
Structural reflection on Ribot and Peluso's framework ............................. 154
Summary and key points ....................................................................... ~ .. 155
iv
Chapter 4: Land management. ........................................................................ 159
Section 1: Land management and NTFPs ................................................... 159
Policy impacts on the presence of NTFP species and management of
woodlands ................................................................................................ 169
Case studies ............................................................................................ 172
Section 2: Ownership and management impacts on access and availability
..................................................................................................................... 178
Structural and relational mechanisms of access ...................................... 182
Structural reflection .................................................................................. 192
Summary and key points .......................................................................... 193
Chapter 5: Government and support organisations ......................................... 196
Section 1: The involvement of organisations with NTFPs ............................ 196
Policy objectives ....................................................................................... 196
Existing initiatives ..................................................................................... 203
Case study from the Pacific Northwest: Involving harvesters in inventory
and monitoring ......................................................................................... 210
Section 2: Organisational ability to influence NTFP use .............................. 217
Rights based access ................................................................................ 217
Structural and relational mechanisms of access ...................................... 223
A final structural reflection ........................................................................ 232
Summary. and key points .......................................................................... 233
Conclusion .......................................................................................................2 37
Section 1: How are domestically produced NTFPs used? ........................... 238
Functional uses ........................................................................................ 239
Livelihood purpose ................................................................................... 240
Lifestyle .................................................................................................... 241
Section 2: What social, cultural and ecological factors are perceived as
delimiting use? ............................................................................................. 241
Rights based access ................................................................................ 242
Structural and relational mechanisms of access ...................................... 245
Section 3: Is more active management of NTFP resources needed? ......... 248
Section 4: What form should the management of these resources take? .... 250
Section 5: Final reflections ........................................................................... 254
References ......................................................................................................2 37
Appendicies .....................................................................................................2 75
v
Appendix 1: Acronyms used ........................................................................ 275
Appendix 2: Study reference numbers ......................................................... 275
Finnish study ............................................................................................ 275
The development of NTFPs in Scotrand ................................................... 277
Inventory study: Resource availability ...................................................... 277
Harvester workshops: The values and importance of NTFPs .................. 278
Pacific Northwest study: Involving harvesters in inventory and monitoring .
.................................................................................................................2 78
Appendix 3: Species mentioned in the text. ................................................. 279
Appendix 4: Reports and publications ......................................................... 280
Appendix 5 Omnibus survey results ............................................................ 281
Appendix 6 Inventory and monitoring study details ...................................... 285
Example 1: Moss harvest monitoring, Hebo Ranger District. ................... 285
Example 2: Matsutake harvest monitoring, Diamond Lake Ranger District
.................................................................................................................2 86
Example 3: Commercial quality salal monitoring, Vancouver Island ........ 288
Appendix 7: Recording of NTFP use: the role of gender. ............................ 291
Appendix 8: Permit schemes ....................................................................... 294
Competition between harvesters .............................................................. 294
Setting boundaries ................................................................................... 294
Equability. .................................................................... ~ ............................ 295
Administration .......................................................................................... 295
Effectiveness ............................................................................................ 296
vi
TABLE OF FIGURES TABLES
Ar~D
Figure 1: Achieving sustainable resource use. After Martin (1994) in
Cunningham (2001 P 6) ..................................................................................... 12
Table 1: Differences between natural resource sociology and environmental
sociology. Adapted from Buttle (2002 p 207) ..................................................... 16
Table 2: Stakeholder groups and areas of investigation .................................... 22
Table 3: Comparison of geographic factors in NTFP use in the three study
areas ................................................................................................................. 27
Table 4: Finnish study interviewees .................................................................. 30
Table 5: Lanark workshop codes ....................................................................... 32
Table 6: Those attending NTFP development workshops ................................. 32
Table 7: Woodlands surveyed ........................................................................... 35
Table 8: Harvester workshop participants ......................................................... 37
Table 9: Case study participants ....................................................................... 38
Table 10: Comparison of three surveys of forest use ........................................ 51
Figure 2: Seasonal calendar of NTFP harvesting (Output combined from two
participative workshops with NTFP harvesters) ................................................. 54
Figure 3: Values matrix for NTFP groups .......................................................... 55
Table 11: Typology of non timber forest product harvesters. From Jones et al
(2004 p 23) ........................................................................................................6 0
Figure 4: Factors in the categorisation of NTFP use ......................................... 62
Table 12 Access to mushroom picking areas for both commercial and
non-commercial harvesting ............................................................................... 73
Figure 5: Routes goods may take through processing .................................... 108
Figure 6: Typology of Scottish commercial buyers and processors ................. 109
Table 13: Motivations for involvement in NTFP buying or processing ............. 113
Figure 7: Labour relations with harvesters ...................................................... 143
Table 14: Average size of woodlands over 2ha. After Forestry Commission
(2001 ) .............................................................................................................. 160
Table 15: Forest and woodland ownership type by percentage of land area.
After Forestry Commission (2001 ) ................................................................... 161
Figure 8: Impacts of management regime on management for NTFPs ........... 164
Figure 9: Typology of land ownership regimes and NTFP use ........................ 166
Table 16: Woodland cover. Adapted from (Scotland's Woods) ....................... 167
vii