In this episode of Smart Forests Radio, we speak with Rachel French, former
biodiversity
officer at the Mull and Iona Community Trust (MICT), about the
regeneration
of the Ardura Community Forest on the Isle of Mull and the vital role forests play as community spaces. Rachel discusses connecting people with woodlands through school visits, volunteer programmes, and wildlife-themed events, alongside the
restoration
of ancient Atlantic oak woodland and peatland. She also describes the technologies used in the forest—from QR codes
monitoring
water
quality during Sitka spruce harvesting to drone surveys, camera trapping, and fixed-point photography—before reflecting on how harvesting Sitka spruce and emerging opportunities such as biodiversity credits can support local livelihoods and sustain
community forests
.
Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Phoebe Hamilton Jones
Producer: Harry Murdoch
Listen on Apple and Spotify
This radio episode was produced by the Smart Forests project funded by the European Research Council. Smart Forests is led by Professor Jennifer Gabrys and is based in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.
Header image: An aerial view of Ardura Community Forest. Mull and Iona Community Trust (MICT), https://www.mict.co.uk/projects-services/ardura.
Smart Forests Atlas materials are free to use for non-commercial purposes (with attribution) under a
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
To cite this radio episode:
French, Rachel, Jennifer Gabrys, and Phoebe Hamilton Jones, "Rachel French: Forests as Community Spaces," Smart Forests Atlas (2026), https://atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/rachel-french.