Scottish Woodlands projects honoured at ‘Tree Oscars’
TWO projects involving Scottish Woodlands Ltd have been honoured at the annual ‘Tree Oscars’ - Scotland's Finest Woods Awards.
The Knowes & Keltie site in Dunning, Perthshire, was Highly Commended in the New Commercial Woods category, while Barnhill, near Dollar, was Commended in the Climate Change Champion Award.
The Awards were presented during National Tree Week, at a ceremony at the Scottish Parliament, by Mairi Gougeon MSP, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform & Islands.
Scottish Woodlands Ltd sponsors one of the awards, the Farm Forestry Award for Young People. Judges praised the winner, Matthew Imrie of Hillhead Farm, Torrance, Glasgow, for implementing and encouraging woodland creation on a poor part of the farm, improving the farming activity, biodiversity value and future financial resilience. They also encouraged him to “explore other woodland creation projects that might deliver similar synergies.”
The winner of the Scottish Woodlands Trophy and Farm Forestry Award for Young People was Matthew Imrie at Hillhead Farm, Torrance, Glasgow
Knowes & Keltie, owned by Woodland Invest, is a 476-hectare site in the Dunning Glen, and has been planted with 1 million trees. Forest Manager Jillian Kennedy said: “The main aim of the woodland creation is to establish a productive conifer woodland of quality timber - while protecting wildlife and archaeological features and offering attractive public access.”
The scheme is two-thirds Sitka spruce, 15% mixed conifers, 7% native broadleaves, and 10% designed open ground.
Additional objectives include the protection of archaeological features (shielings) and creating specific features, including open ground, to allow local populations of skylark and black grouse to thrive.
“The result of this has been very evident with large volumes of people now using the forest roads and tracks at their leisure,” Jillian Kennedy added.
“The woodland has established very well, and we are pleased with the growth rates across the Sitka spruce planting phases, and with the strong Douglas fir growth in the mixed conifer areas.”
Knowes & Keltie was registered with the Woodland Carbon Code and this year it is set for its first verification surveys.
Highly commended for the New Commercial Woods award was Knowes and Keltie, Perthshire - Woodland Invest, managed by Scottish Woodlands Ltd
At Barnhill, by Blairingone, south-east of Dollar, Scottish Woodlands Ltd has worked closely (as site manager) with Forestry and Land Scotland, which owns the land.
Mike Page, Forest Manager for Scottish Woodlands Ltd, said: “Barnhill was planted in the spring of 2021 with the objective of blending the production of quality high-value timber, and sequestration of atmospheric carbon. The higher-value timber species (oak, sycamore, Douglas fir) will lock up carbon while growing and, by being incorporated into high-value, longer-lasting products, should keep the carbon out of circulation for longer.”
Also, a large area of native broadleaved species will remain on the site, sequestering carbon in perpetuity, as well as providing areas of visual and recreational amenity and corridors for wildlife movement.
Mr Page added: “Careful consideration was given to species suitability using climate change models. In the central belt, this broadly means accounting for rising temperatures and increased rainfall events."
“Douglas fir has been planted over large areas of the better ground [at Barnhill], while oak and sycamore have been planted on the best areas of the site and the spruces relegated to the wetter, sourer areas. These species decisions take advantage of the site in its current form and seek to work with the likely changes our climate is expected to undergo.”
Students at SRUC, Scotland’s Rural College, have been invited to visit Barnhill to learn about the planning and implementation of the site - to understand the logistical challenges and consider its conception in terms of the changing climate.
Ian Robinson, Managing Director of Scottish Woodlands Ltd, said: “We’re very pleased to have been honoured for these two great projects. Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards are a great annual celebration of the very best of our woods and forests."
“Scottish Woodlands Ltd is delighted to be part of recognising the places and people that are doing so much for our environment, and rural economy. Once again, our farm woodland award for young people has attracted an excellent winner.”
Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, said: “Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards is a fantastic way to celebrate the very best in forestry in Scotland and to pay tribute to the many people and organisations that devote so much time and effort into creating and caring for woodlands.”
Jean Nairn, Executive Director of Scotland’s Finest Woods, said: “The production of high-quality timber in an environmentally-sustainable way, and the use of woodland by farmers to help them improve their yields as well as creating biodiversity, are just some of the great examples of how woods and forests can boost both the climate and the economy. Here’s to the future of Scotland’s wonderful woodlands and forests – they are certainly showing strong signs of growth.”
