Midmar Land Management Plan

Midmar is located near Echt in Aberdeenshire, with the main access point roughly a mile west of the village on the B9119. The forest is mostly made up of conifers, planted originally for timber, with Sitka spruce the most common tree species.

The current 10-year LMP expired on 20 January 2025. We’ve started the review process, and this first consultation invites your views. We’re asking stakeholders – including statutory bodies, third sector groups, businesses, neighbours and individuals – to share their thoughts on how Midmar should be managed over the next 10 years.

If you’d like to send us your feedback but aren’t sure where to start, you could think about the following questions:

• What’s your connection to this place?
• Why is this place important to you?
• Is there a significant feature or issue we should know about?

This plan is at an early draft stage, but a few key objectives have been identified. You can find more detail in the stakeholder consultation document, linked at the bottom of the page.

• Timber production will likely stay a key focus in this area. We’ll need to restructure older forest blocks and keep adding new broadleaf and conifer woodland. As there’s been a lot of felling in this area recently to clear up after Storm Arwen, we’ll mostly be focusing on restocking felled areas in this plan period and thinning out younger crops to improve the timber quality in the future.
  
  
• Broadleaf species only make up 3% of the total tree cover in this forest, we'll aim to raise this to at least 5% within the next ten years.
  
  
• Several small watercourses start in the forest and eventually flow into the River Don. These rivers are important for wildlife and as sources of drinking water. We’ll focus on improving riverbank habitats and keeping them connected.

The timeline for the plan review is shown below. The consultation periods highlighted will mainly take place online. We’ll contact stakeholders and neighbours directly and place signs at forest entrances with details about how to get involved.

• June 2025: Initial scoping, including public consultation (28 days)
• June to July 2025: Preparation of the draft plan 
• July to August 2025: Final stakeholder scoping and public consultation on draft proposals (28 days)
• August 2025: Preparation of the final plan
• September 2025: Submission to Scottish Forestry for approval (the submitted LMP will be available on their public register)

• Land management plan
• Map 1 - location
• Map 2 - key features
• Map 3 - current species
• Map 4 - management coupes
• Map 5 - future habitats and species
• Map 6 - thinning coupes
• Map 7 - thinning approvals
• Map 8 - soils
• Map 9 - timber haulage
• Map 10 - deadwood ecological potential
• Appendix 1 - consultation record
• Appendix 2 - tolerance table
• Appendix 3 - visualisations
• Appendix 4 - restock prescriptions
• Appendix 5 - deer management plan