A new academic study exploring ‘Contributions of Scottish community woodlands to local wellbeing before & during the COVID-19 pandemic’ has just been published.
It involved 31 semi-structured interviews and 765 questionnaire responses, and was conducted in three Scottish community woodlands before and after Scotland’s first lockdown in Spring of 2020. Findings suggest community woodlands are highly valued for providing opportunities to exercise and connect with nature but also provide a range of other social, communal and symbolic benefits.
Following lockdown, respondents visited community woodlands more often, developed further interest and appreciation in community woodlands, and placed significantly more value on connecting with nature and relatively less on social and shared benefits. These results reflect the impact of national restrictions and highlight community woodlands as important local green spaces which, despite limitations on communal use, continue to support wellbeing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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