Forestry in Scotland

[3] The Scottish Government's Draft Climate Change Plan has set an aim of increasing coverage to 21% of Scotland by 2032, with the rate of afforestation rising to 15,000 hectares per year by 2024.

[citation needed] Prior to human intervention it is likely that Scotland's woodlands consisted chiefly of Scots pine and birch in the north and east, with Atlantic oakwoods in the warmer and wetter areas to the south and west.

From that date, human actions (including the grazing effects of sheep and deer) led to a continued reduction in the amount of forest.

To provide the wood required for charcoal, woodlands were managed using a technique known as coppicing, which involved repeatedly harvesting branches from trees, each time cutting them down to ground level and allowing new shoots to grow.

[8] The preserved Bonawe Iron Furnace provides a particularly prominent example of an 18th century Highland iron smelting site, whilst the nearby forest at Glen Nant was one of many woods across Argyll that supplied the oak required: now a national nature reserve, Glen Nant provides a good example of woodland managed by coppicing.

[10] Lovat had extensive landholdings in Scotland, and it was in the Highlands that he and other Scottish landowners such as Sir John Stirling-Maxwell conceived of the scheme of land-settlement allied to forestry.

As first chairman of the Commission Lovat was able to put into practice his ‘long cherished dream’ of repopulating hill country, thanks to his good contacts in government.

Originally 150 days work was provided in the forests, but “in practice, of course, these smallholdings attracted the cream of our men whom we were glad to employ on fulltime...”[11] Existing and often derelict agricultural dwellings were adapted and new ones built to a small number of basic designs.

The scheme “was never a directly economic proposition, but in the pre-war days when motor traffic was lacking and it was much more important than today to have a solid caucus of skilled woodmen [sic] living in the forests, the indirect benefits were inestimable.

Specialist battalions were recruited to work in the forests, including the Women's Timber Corps, groups of conscientious objectors, and workers from Belize (the British Honduran Forestry Unit).

This was achieved by splitting responsibility for forests by national borders, resulting in the creation of Forestry Commission Scotland, and equivalent bodies for England and Wales in 2003.

[17] Only thirty-one species of deciduous tree and shrub are native to Scotland, including ten willows, four whitebeams and three birch and cherry.

[19][20] The trees developed in a highly complex fashion involving the Rock Whitebeam (S. rupicola), which is found on nearby Holy Isle but not Arran, interbreeding with the Rowan (S. aucuparia) to produce the new species.

[28][29] Much of the National Forest Estate is managed to encourage tourism and recreation, with facilities such as car park, picnic areas, paths and mountain bike trails.