On the day (29 Jan) the plans to lease 25% of Scotland’s forests are discussed in The Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) is calling on the Scottish Government to safeguard the country’s national forests in trust for the wildlife and people of Scotland, now and in the future.
As David Grundy, SWT’s vice chairman said: “We firmly believe that the wildlife living within our national forests will be safer under the expert stewardship of the Forestry Commission Scotland as opposed to a large commercial company which will naturally put economic considerations first.”
He added: “The Commission has made great strides towards sustainable forest management in recent years and long may this continue. Not only will the leasing proposal mean an erosion of biodiversity assets in the leased areas, it will also mean less grant money for private woodland owners to carry out wildlife management as the lessee will become eligible for Commission grants.”
Jonny Hughes, SWT’s Head of Policy stressed: “There are elements of the consultation where SWT is very supportive of the Government, in particular the proposal for the Commission to enter into joint ventures with renewable energy companies. Such ventures could generate many millions which could be reinvested in restoring and re-creating our once extensive Caledonian pine forests. This would have multiple benefits, not just in helping balance Scotland’s carbon budgets but also for tourism, flood alleviation, biodiversity, recreation and even health improvements.
Mr Hughes continued “Clearly, we do not need to go to the drastic measure of leasing over 100,000 hectares of public forest to raise the funds for more woodland creation – this could easily be achieved through improving existing grants schemes and reinvesting profits arising from joint ventures with renewable energy companies”.
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. SWT is the largest voluntary body working for all the wildlife of Scotland, representing more than 33,000 members who care for wildlife and the environment. SWT seeks to raise public awareness of threatened habitats and species and manages over 120 reserves Scotland-wide.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Nicola McGovern, PR Officer, SWT
Tel: 0131 312 4742.