PEATLAND experts from across the UK have seen first hand how a new approach by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is benefitting commercial forestry and conservation efforts.

Delegates attending the annual IUCN UK Peatland Programme Conference in Aviemore – the UK’s largest peatland gathering – were taken to an FLS peatland restoration site at Dalchork to learn about how FLS’s harvesting, civil engineering and peatland teams are working in tandem to deliver operations that reduce costs and are more environmentally effective.

FLS assistant operations manager for the north region, Hazel MacLean, explained how the combination of forward planning, strategic felling and constructing stable low-impact log roads for extracting the timber is paying dividends.

She said: “Using these innovative and collaborative techniques is allowing us to manage our land and forests sustainably and restore peatland, while also balancing economic, social and environmental requirements.

“It has been standard practice for the harvesting operations to take precedence on peatland sites identified for restoration. This has often resulted in the peat being left in poor condition where machines have bogged, and leaving islands of unreachable timber or trees – often in the hardest-to-reach places.

“Collaborative working with our planners, harvesting and civil engineering teams along with standing sales contractors has allowed the peatland team to have input into harvesting plans and take access first with specialist techniques and machinery to leave the site in the best possible condition for restoring.”

This work forms part of the FLS Peatland Restoration Strategy, with FLS a key delivery partner for NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION – a partnership dedicated to supporting the restoration of 250,000 hectares of peatlands by 2030.