ABSTRACT
Nearly one-quarter of the Scottish population gathers non-timber forest products (NTFPs), according to recent surveys (Heggie, 2001; TNS Global, 2003; West and Smith, 2003; Snowley and Daley, 2005). The practice of gathering wild plant materials and fungi crosses age, class, ethnicity and socio-economic status. It provides a suite of benefits that contribute to health and well-being, while connecting people to woodlands and countryside in direct and intimate ways. For a small but important subset of Scottish gatherers, NTFPs also are a source of income. However, the legal status of gathering often is unclear and tensions have arisen around the terms of access to land and NTFPs in Scotland. The legal context of contemporary gathering in Scotland is a function of formal law and customary practice, grounded in the 20th-century history of Scottish forests.
