Our vision for Scottish forestry

Red squirrel by Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)

It’s an interesting time in the world of forestry, with a number of changes underway. Forestry is an important industry in Scotland, supporting jobs and investment in our rural areas. Home grown timber offers sustainable opportunities in construction, and more besides. Woodlands also provide valuable habitat for some of our most iconic species such as capercaillie and red squirrels, as well as giving us a place to enjoy outdoor activities and engage with nature. Our trees and forests can also play a vital role in mitigating the effects of climate change and flooding.

We are currently updating our own woodland and forestry policy, but our overall priorities remain the same. We wish to see the sustainable management of all woodlands to benefit wildlife and people. In particular the role of native woodlands must not be forgotten. New commercial forestry should be targeted to land of lower value for wildlife, to prevent the conflicts that scarred the hills, and led to situations like the afforestation of peatlands in the Flow Country - which is still haunting us (and costing hard cash to sort out) today. To maximise the benefits and minimise the risks we believe action is needed to:

• Protect, restore and extend native woodlands. Over many centuries the UK has lost much of its native woodland habitat, and there are more birds dependant on woodland on the red list than of any other habitat ¹. We are keen to protect existing native or semi-natural woodland and see new woodland, planted at the right scale and in the right place, which will benefit biodiversity and people.
• Promote positive woodland management to benefit important biodiversity. Whilst woodland expansion may be well-intentioned, research has shown that a lack of management of our existing woodlands can be a threat to biodiversity ².  
• Restore priority open ground habitats - such as lowland heathland and peat bogs - currently covered by plantation forests established in the 1960s-early 1990s, and better protect existing open ground habitats from inappropriate woodland planting which might damage them.
• Plant more trees in appropriate places, to supply the forest industries of the future and protect forests overseas. They should be located with care to safeguard precious resources such as curlew nesting habitat, water courses, peatlands and other features of natural heritage value. This is where strategic guidance at a regional level should be provided by Government.

Conifer plantation in the Flow Country by Norman Russell (rspb-images.com)

How can we achieve these outcomes? As with so many things, it requires a joined up approach, with land managers and conservationists working together to deliver lasting change.  A balance needs to be struck where advice, incentives and regulations enable integrated land management to take place, delivering social, environmental and economic benefits.  Is that not what Scotland’s Land Use Strategy is designed to do?

The Brexit vote in June has placed a challenge before us, is it an opportunity to take another look at the current systems that govern and support much of the way our countryside is managed? Or is it a threat to the environment, and rural industries?  The forestry sector receives a significant amount of public investment. We now have an opportunity to justify and explore ways in which this investment can be used to deliver a sustainable timber industry, that also addresses other environmental challenges such as species and habitat conservation, habitat restoration (righting some of the mistakes of the past) and flood risk management. We can all rally behind the desirable substitution of concrete by timber, and plan for forests that have multiple benefits.

References

1. Eaton, M., Aebischer, N., Brown, A., Hearn, R., Lock, L., Musgrove, A., Noble, D., Stroud, D. and Gregory, R., 2015. Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the population status of birds in the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. British Birds, 108, pp.708-746.
2. Armar, A. et al (2006), What’s Happening to our Woodland Birds? Long-term Changes in the Populations of Woodland Birds. Sandy & BTO. Thetford.