2014 was another good year for A J Moffat & Associates, with commissions from new and traditional sources on subjects as diverse as climate change adaptation in Scottish Estates to the need for risk management systems for wildfire, and the development of workshops on arboriculture and climate change. Consultancies were concentrated in London and the Home Counties, with particular focus on land reclamation and arboricultural issues associated with the retrofitting of basements under houses and gardens. A significant knowledge transfer programme was maintained with journal papers, book chapters, reports and articles on earthworms and Short Rotation Forestry, biomass feedstocks for renewable energy, native woodland adaptation options in Scotland, ecosystem services and land reclamation, and Scottish estate preparedness for climate change. The relationship between forestry and painting, a longstanding interest, was also published as a short monograph by the RFS. Oral presentations were delivered to the Climate XChange annual meeting in Edinburgh in September and the British Ecological Society meeting on Carbon cycling: from plants to ecosystems in Manchester in October. Some university teaching and external examination was also given.
Looking forward to 2015, in addition to delivering the workshops on climate change, there are also intentions to develop a similar course on ‘soils and tree rooting for arboriculture’, and further plans for the delivery of arboricultural expertise are in progress. Publications in citizen science, forest fire, forest harvesting and green infrastructure are planned or already in the pipeline.- watch this space! In addition, A J Moffat & Associates will be actively seeking to explore new areas both geographically and scientifically – all interesting offers or proposals will be considered too – it would be good to work with or for you!