The success of Forestry Commission Scotland’s Seedcorn Fund, Continue reading
Tag Archives: Forestry Commission Scotland
Envy Galloway’s Dark Sky Park in meteoric display on 13th December
Galloway showed the way in its enterprising capitalisation on the nature of its place Continue reading
Good news for North Mull, Bute and Cowal communities: woodfuel markets open up
Forestry Commission Scotland says that the demand for woodfuel in Scotland Continue reading
Operation Easter for Mull’s Sea Eagles
This year’s Operation Easter starts on Friday (12th February). Police on Mull will announce Continue reading
Finding David Douglas film premiere for Pitlochry
A Perthshire adventurer comes home to Pitlochry on celluloid Continue reading
Appin Forest provides larch for a boat to be built by GalGael in Govan
The GalGael Trust based in Glasgow’s Govan, formed in the 1990s, is a charitable community project that lays out a route back to work for people with addictions or who have not worked for a long time. They learn to build and sail wooden boats.
One of the problems the project faces is getting supplies of the right timber to build the boats. Last week they had two lorry loads of timber delivered, courtesy of Appin Forest in north Argyll.
How did this come about? Well, the Galgael people have learned not to be backward about coming forward. They asked former Environment Minister, Michael Russell, if he could help them get timber supplies and, as Tam McGarvey from GalGael puts it, Mr Russell ‘came good’. He put them in touch with the Appin Forest people, leading to the 50 tonnes of timber just delivered.
Amongst the delivery were a dozen fully mature and good quality larch trees – ideal for boatbulding and described by GalGael’s Tim Norman as: ‘…the kind that every traditional boat builder in Scotland is after. And there was some oak for the keel and some Sitka Spruce for oars and the like. You could build anything from a boat to a house with this amount of wood’.
The GalGael trainees will now get to grips with the entire timber processing sequence from the forest to the workshop to the Clyde.
This is an inspirational project in so many ways. Michael Russell and Appin Forest will be remembered as the bow of the boat to come cleaves the waters of Scotland’s west coast.
PAW held out for Finlay Christine, honoured today for protecting Mull’s Sea Eagles from wildlife crime
New Environment Minister, Raseanna Cunningham has, at a conference today at Tulliallan Police College, presented Mull’s Wildlife Crime Officer, Finlay Christine, with the Wildlife Crime Co-ordinator of the Year Award.
The award is made by PAW Scotland – Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime. In presenting it, Ms Cunningham said: ‘Wildlife crime continues to threaten Scotland’s rare species and it is dedicated people like Mr Christine who are at the forefront of efforts to tackle it.
‘Partnership working is incredibly important and Mr Christine has worked tirelessly with other agencies to protect one of our most precious native species.
‘The Scottish Government will continue to provide the political leadership to tackle wildlife crime, and it is an issue I am particularly passionate about, but we look to those on the ground to lead the fight against this stain on our natural environment’.
Finlay Christine has been with Strathclyde Police for almost 30 years, working on the Isle of Mull since 1991. He was responsible for setting up the Mull Eagle Watch project to raise awareness of and to protect sea eagles on the island. it is a partnership bringing together Forestry Commission Scotland, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scottish Natural Heritage, Mull & Iona Community Trust and Strathclyde Police.
As this very successful initiative of Finlay Christine’s makes clear, much of the work of Wildlife Crime Officers (WCOs), both in prevention and detection of wildlife crimes, involves working in partnership with other agencies. The existence and the duties of Police WCOs are an integral part of the fight against wildlife crime. Scotland now has around 80 WCOs and their impact is widely recognised – and measureable.
PAW Scotland itself brings together a wide range of bodies with an interest in tackling wildlife crime. Its remit covers issues like conservation, land management, shooting and law enforcement.
Today’s conference at Tulliallan Police College, where WCO Christine was deservedly honoured, was attended by police officers and other key groups including the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals (Scottish SPCA), Scottish Raptor Study Groups, RSPB Scotland, British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), SRPBA, Advocates for Animals and Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA).
The Sea Eagle reintroduction programme on Mull has been markedly successful for the species and for the island. It is contributing strongly to the island’s rich wildlife tourism sector. The worthy winner of the Best Wildlife Website Award in the ForArgyll Awards 2008 was RSPB Mara & Breagha, a blog that also offers visitors the opportunity to watch the satellite-tracked flight paths of two young sea eagles hatched on the island.
Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels launches – work to start in April
One of Argyll’s great resources is its wildlife and biodiversity. A crucial – and photogenic – part of that is its red squirrel population, found across much of its mainland territory but not, understandably, out on the islands.
This is a population in decline, under threat from the North American Grey Squirrel which arrived in the 19th century, competes for food, is larger and more aggressive and, critically, carries the Squirrel Pox which is lethal for the reds within 14 days. While research is hard at work to develop a vaccine for Squirrel Pox this is not on the immediate horizon so alternative approaches have to be taken in the meantime to protect the red squirrel population.
Today (10th February) the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS), and the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA) have joined forces in a £1.3 milion project – Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels.
Starting work in April, this is dedicated, over the next three years, to developing habitats where the red squirrel can flourish and will also work to control the greys which threaten their survival, including judicious culling.
The project to save one of Caledonia’s rare and most attractive species is being launched, appropriately, at Dunkeld in Perthshire where Dougie MacLean, singer songwriter who composed Caledonia has a folk music pub.
Ron McDonald, from SNH, says that grey squirrel control will be focussed on the key routes used by grey squirrels to spread
north. ‘Greys have already displaced red squirrels from most of England, Wales and Scotland’s central belt, but much of the north still remains grey-free.
‘With sightings of greys becoming more frequent in northern Perthshire and Angus, and a population of grey squirrels already
established in Aberdeen, it is imperative that we act quickly to protect red squirrels north of the central belt and prevent the grey’s further migration’.
Environment Minister, Michael Russell, says: ‘The red squirrel is one of our most beautiful and valuable native species. Its loss would therefore be absolutely unforgiveable’.
Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Stuart Brooks says that he well understands why people do not like the prospect of killing the greys but is clear that: ‘… it is disingenuous to say that there are viable alternative solutions to saving the red squirrel in Scotland’.
Current Scottish squirrel population statistics see about 121,000 red squirrels – 75% of the UK’s population of reds – and somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 greys.
The BBC has published a very useful map generated by the Scottish Widlife Trust, showing the distribution of the red squirrel in Scotland and the decline in its population here in the last ten years.
This map shows that in Argyll, the red have lost ground in the soutern part of the Kintyre peninsula but have strengthened their position to a degree in Cowal.
The photograph of a red squirrel above is by Toivo Toivanen & Tiina Toppila and is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.
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Scotland needs to plant new forest 25 times the size of Edinburgh to meet CO2 capture targets by 2050
Scotland’s forests currently lock up around 10 million tonnes of CO2 each year. If we can double our woodland creation rates we could be locking up another 4.4 million tonnes per year by 2050.
The rate at which Scotland created new woodlands was high before 1990 but has declined since. It is now urgent not only to halt the decline but to change gear into serious new forest building.
Environment Minister Michael Russell, announcing a woodland expansion strategy paper today, saying that an increase in woodland planting must happen and innovative proposals are needed to allow it to happen.
One option is the leasing of 25% of the national forest estate to allow other companies to manage the forests. The income from this could generate around £200 million. This income would enable woodland creation rates to more than double to 10,000 hectares a year without the cost to the taxpayer that would otherwise be incurred.
The strategy paper describing this proposal, The Scottish Government’s Rationale for Woodland Expansion, has been finalised after public consultation closed on 27th January.
Making the announcement today, the Environment Minister said: ‘To reach our vision of 25 per cent of Scotland being covered in woodland we need to create 650,000 hectares of new woodland, roughly 25 times the size of Edinburgh. We need a new way of doing this and it will cost more money.
‘More woodlands can help tackle greenhouse gas emissions and importantly supports local businesses and farm diversification. If we can raise new funds from leasing our forests then it will kick start a massive expansion in woodland creation and this could provide new jobs and significant investment in the biomass sector. Woods also provide recreation and conservation benefits so it is a win win situation.
‘The strategy paper issued by Forestry Commission Scotland offers a valuable insight into why new woodlands are so important, not only in economic terms, but also in providing social and environmental benefits’.
The details of Forestry Commission Scotland’s paper on woodland expansion are available online.
Council calls for meeting with Environment Minister over forest leasing scheme
Argyll and Bute Council has clearly been affected as much as many by the politically generated alarmism circulating on the Scottish Government’s forest leasing proposal. The Council of course needs to show anxious constituents that it is getting the answers to their queries – although all of these have repeatedly been placed in the public domain by the Environment Minister and reported by For Argyll.
The Council has now called for a meeting with Michael Russell, the Environment Minister, to clarify a number of issues relating to the Government’s consultation on forestry provision in the forthcoming Scottish Climate Change Bill.
The consultation is seeking views on a range of proposals, including the potential to lease the management of 25% of the National Forest Estate to private companies for up to 75 years.
Due to the lack of information in the consultation paper, the Council is also requesting that the deadline for responding is extended.
Council Leader Dick Walsh rightly says: ‘Argyll and Bute and Dumfries and Galloway are likely to be the two areas subject to the 75 years leases as they contain the highest proportion of fast growing commercial forest plantations.
‘Although we fully support further action to combat climate change, given that over 30 per cent of Argyll and Bute has forest cover it is vital that the needs of our communities are taken fully into account before decisions with long term implications are taken’.
For Argyll has been reporting pretty exhaustively on this issue and on the irresponsible political chicanery manipulating public perceptions of the proposal and reponses to it. The facts are out there and have been put out there again and again by the Minister concerned but people are easily swayed by fact-free scaremongering – as this saga has shown.
Let’s say it again. The Environment Minister and the Scottish Government have been unequivocal in their assurances that:
- there will be no compulsory job losses
- there will will be no loss of forest amenities and access to the public and to the various leisure businesses that use them
- there will be no loss of role to Forestry Commission Scotland
The political reality is that if they are being economical with the truth in any aspect of this they are finished. And of course they know that each time they issue yet another plain and robust assurance on these matters.
Scotland’s forest estates currently require a subsidy of £28million per annum.
The income generated by the 25% forest leasing scheme will cover this annual deficit which is a continuing burden on the taxpayer; and it will pay for the measures to combat climate change – which would otherwise require to be paid for by the taxpayer. With the unambiguous assurances given – what’s to lose?
There is a debate on the issue on Holyrood on Thursday which the Enviroment Minister will lead for the Government and which For Argyll will be covering.