FOLLOWING the first shuffle of the Humza Yousaf reign, Scottish forestry now has a new boss in government. Mairi Gougeon takes on the brief at Cabinet level after a near two-year spell of the sector being overseen by a minister.
While the move has been hailed by industry figures, the honeymoon period won't last long.
Here are three key targets the forestry secretary must get right if the industry is to get "back on track" in Scotland.
1) Get Scotland's planting back to previous heights
Scotland has long been the jewel in the UK's planting crown, creating more new woodland than the other home nations combined year after year. But that gloss is beginning to fade.
READ MORE: Scotland's new forestry secretary told to 'get industry back on track'
While Northern Ireland and Wales have both seen consistent growth in their woodland creation (England has been up and down), Scotland's planting rate is repeatedly falling. It has put more than 10,000 hectares of new woodland in the ground in each of the last four years, but this had dropped to 10,480 ha in the 12 months prior to the end of March 2022. All signs suggest the current planting season won't produce a much better result, if at all.
Mairi McAllan, the former environment minister whose brief included forestry, was quick to talk up the country's consistent ability to break the 10,000 ha barrier. This was, she said, despite the challenges of Brexit, winter storms and the COVID pandemic.
With the target set to be 18,000 ha by 2025, efforts are going to have to ramp up tenfold.
2) Properly fund forestry
One quick(ish) fix would be to ensure forestry has the proper funding, but recent news suggest this might not be the case. As we reported, Forestry and Land Scotland, the government's arm's length body, expects to run on a £9 million deficit this year, with it reining in its woodland creation and timber production goals as a consequence.
READ MORE: FLS chief warns of 'difficult year ahead' amid £9m budget deficit
Everyone knows budgets are tight. But public forestry isn't exactly going to get closer to its planting and commercial targets without the right support.
3) Stand up for conifers
When the forestry brief was last given to a cabinet secretary, no one could argue they didn't embrace the sector. Fergus Ewing's commitment to the industry was such that just last year he was one of the few MSPs in parliament to really stand up for Sitka spruce (and conifers as a whole) during a debate on forestry.
READ MORE: SNP's Fergus Ewing defends use of Sitka spruce in Scottish forestry
If Scotland (and the wider UK) is going to reduce its reliance on imported timber, it needs to plant more softwood. Forestry needs a government leader brave enough to say so.
This piece is an extract from last week's Forestry Latest News newsletter, which is emailed out at 4PM every Friday with a round-up of the week's top stories.
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