Balancing Conservation and Productive Forestry in the National Park
National Tree Week 2024 invites us to reflect on the importance of trees, woodlands, and forests. For many, this week evokes images of ancient woodlands like the temperate rainforest, hill glens, and the grand specimens from Balloch Country Park to the small but tenacious Milarrochy Oak.
However, these represent just part of the rich, diverse arboreal landscape that makes Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park so unique and cherished by so many, and our timber-producing forests might be less likely to spring to mind.
More than 31% of the National Park (over 54,000 hectares) is covered by woodlands – far above the Scottish national average of 18%. 62% of the National Park’s woodland cover is productive conifer forest, with much of this on the publicly owned National Forest Estate. Timber and wood products are a vital part of climate change mitigation, with carbon absorbed by trees locked up for the lifetime of the product. For example, over 80% of new homes in Scotland are timber-framed, that’s wood storing carbon for the lifetime of the building, reducing the use of carbon-intensive steel and concrete.
When productive forests reach maturity, we have the opportunity to make changes. Most of these were planted before the National Park existed, with efficient timber production as the only objective. Now we expect these forests to do much more, alongside with producing timber.
Our Trees and Woodland Strategy (2019–2039) focuses on redesigning forests to deliver the National Park’s primary aim of protecting and enhancing landscape and biodiversity – by making changes such as:
- including more areas of native woodland, particularly along riparian corridors
- improving habitat connectivity
- restoring Plantation on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS)
- increased species diversity by including more non-Sitka conifers, or productive broadleaves where appropriate, or greater resilience to future threats from disease and climate change
- introducing more age and structural diversity, through Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF)
- including more open ground and redesigning forest margins
Additionally, our National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP) plays a significant role in guiding forestry activities, focusing on public benefits like nature restoration, carbon storage, employment and sustainable forestry.
The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) ensures that forestry operations align with legal and environmental guidelines, promoting biodiversity and sustainability. This is particularly important in protected areas like National Parks, where the design and management of forests must take sensitivities into account.
In the National Park, timber production is forecast to reach over 225,000m³ between 2022-2026, supporting industries such as housing, pallet manufacture, and timber products. Forests also play a crucial role in water regulation, reducing flood risk and improving soil water retention.
Beyond their economic and environmental contributions, our productive forests provide significant social benefits of the outdoors. Visitors and residents alike can use extensive forest road networks for walking and cycling contributing to the physical and mental well-being.
Our National Park would not be the place it is without productive forestry. We’re working with those managing these forests to help deliver more for nature and climate as well as future generations of local communities and visitors.
Malcolm Young, Trees and Woodland Adviser, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park