Voices of Forestry presents analysis and insight from people working all across the forestry sector. In this issue, Ian Robinson, managing director of Scottish Woodlands, discusses last year’s planting success, the need for the government to support the industry, and the way forward for forestry. 

THE planting season 2023/24 was a landmark in the history of Scottish Woodlands. The company surpassed 3,000 hectares of new woodland creation in Scotland for the first time since the 1980s.

It was a year of big numbers, and of contradictions. In December 2023, the industry was told the Scottish Government planned to cut a whopping 41 per cent from its woodland grant budget for 2024/25.

This focused minds, and the extension of the planting window, along with exceptional partnership work between the private and public sector, ensured a higher annual figure than anyone had anticipated in Scotland – just over 15,000 hectares of new woodland creation. Scottish Woodlands planted 20 per cent of that.

WANT MORE VOICES? 

This highlighted the strong demand across Scotland to plant trees. The Scottish Government needs to recognise that and support woodland creation, to reap the significant economic and environmental policy benefits that will follow.

It’s also vital for the Government to be consistent and long-term in the way it supports the forestry industry. Planting rates did not spike suddenly in 2023/24 just because the industry pulled its finger out; the hard yards of long-term planning, preparation and commitment to quality ensured the conditions were already in place to ramp up woodland creation.
Schemes contributing to the 2023/24 figure were in planning for up to five years, requiring detailed environmental assessments and forest plans. Scottish Woodlands has created a specific team to work on forest plans, taking a holistic view of everything that needs to be considered to plan work for the landowner, our business and the local community – learning from experience in different areas of Scotland. Local forest managers work with the planning team in a structured way, leaning on their deep knowledge and expertise, rather than starting new plans from scratch.

Scottish Woodlands aims to plant more than 3,000 hectares again in season 2024/25, with more long-term schemes again coming to fruition.

These are likely to include a wide variety of projects, including large native woodland schemes, mixed-species commercial schemes and smaller woodlands on farms, located throughout Scotland and North England. Many schemes are a mixture of tree planting, alongside peatland restoration. These types of applications are often led by Erin Stoll, employed last year by Scottish Woodlands as the first peatland project officer in a mainstream forestry business.

The range of sites likely to come on stream this year (and the new projects following them) is varied, complex and requires a wide range of skills and expertise. That’s why we have set up the specialist forest planning team and employed Erin as peatland officer, part of a five-strong carbon team led by Emma Kerr.

It’s also why we continue to invest in our Graduate Development Programme, which has helped ‘grow our own’ future forestry leaders. After recognising future skills shortages, Scottish Woodlands established the programme in 2017 and has now welcomed 65 graduates into the business, many of whom are already in senior roles.

Skills shortages are a challenge for the entire forestry sector, and our programme aims to develop the next generation of foresters in a real-world setting, with practical training to ensure they can manage the wide variety of new woodland-creation schemes I’ve described.

As well as investing in people, we must invest continually in the best new equipment and in offices close to our clients. We also engage with clients at all the main rural shows, to better understand what they want, and how we can help them create new woodland. Jillian Kennedy, one of our forest managers who came through the graduate programme, is vice-chair of the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs and works hard to promote more positive dialogue and stronger relationships between forestry and farming – to help everyone make more effective, informed decisions about future land use.

It is also crucial to work with people who do not welcome forestry into their communities, and better explain why we need to plant more trees of all types, including those for wood production.

We’re working closely with Confor in its efforts to ensure community engagement by the forestry industry is high-quality, consistent, and collaborative.

Hillhead of Gask, south of Peterhead, taken by SWL Forest Manager Jacob Dean.Hillhead of Gask, south of Peterhead, taken by SWL Forest Manager Jacob Dean. (Image: Supplied)

My point in saying all this is that new woodland creation is a complicated business and requires businesses like Scottish Woodlands to have all its ducks (logs?) in a row. Creating more specialist roles and developing our graduate recruits is a big part of this, as is working with communities across all areas where we operate.

It’s also important to communicate what we do clearly and effectively. That’s why Scottish Woodlands has put a greater focus on telling its story in recent years, increasingly through video, as a rapidly increasing number of people are sourcing their information by watching and not reading. This will only continue to increase and it’s vital to tell the forestry and wood story in ways that fit in with everyone’s busy lives.

So, we’ll continue to communicate well, to collaborate widely, to invest in people, equipment, and offices – and to focus on the highest standards in everything we do.

If we are to keep up the positive forward momentum on woodland creation in Scotland, we need to do all of this – and more. All those trees don’t plant themselves!