A SENIOR forestry figure has told of the challenges faced by one regional team in managing tree diseases – and said the task has brought out the best in its foresters.
Forestry and Land Scotland’s (FLS) Central Region has been beset by numerous diseases in recent years, with felling work taking place in a bid to slow down their spread.
However, what seems like a ‘straightforward’ task often is anything but, especially when you are dealing with dozens (currently 73) of Statutory Plant Health Notices (SPHNs).
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Issued by forestry regulator Scottish Forestry, these require land managers to fell infected trees within a set time-frame.
Carol McGinnes, FLS Central Region manager, said: “Keeping the public and local communities informed and arranging forest closures or diversions is a top safety priority.
"But the big headache is the complete re-jigging of our planned works programmes.
“We have to manage our resources in such a way as to try to deliver as much of our usual harvesting output as we can while also dealing with the diseased trees. It can be extremely challenging ensuring that we have the right resources in the right place at the right time in order to get this done.
“This is all further complicated by the particular circumstances that we have to contend with at each forest where diseased trees have to be felled.”
Some of the issues that can throw SPHN felling work off course include nesting raptors, water mains, powerlines (that need to be shut down), steep terrain that requires specialist contractors and equipment (often in short supply), proximity to popular recreational sites, railway lines, the presence of protected species, and geotechnical issues (trees on unstable slopes above roadways).
Many of these require negotiation with other agencies to arrive at a solution as to how best to carry out the work with a minimal amount of inconvenience.
Carol, whose region includes the likes of Lanarkshire, added: “Arranging a powerline shutdown is obviously a difficult one, as is scheduling felling work next to a railway line, but even more complex are the steep slopes where we have to engage contractors to install rock netting and catch fencing and also arrange for traffic management.
“There is often a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes to get these arrangements in place so that we can meet the statutory requirements of the SPHNs, but knowing that by getting this right we are helping to protect other forests motivates us to continue to rise to the challenge.”
Carol McGinnes features next month in our new Women in Forestry series.
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