Monday, 15 June 2020
Plans for a £6m project to redevelop the Scottish Crannog Centre on the north shore of Loch Tay are one step closer to being realised, thanks to Forestry and Land Scotland’s Community Asset Transfer Scheme. The project includes plans for multiple crannogs that will become the focal point of a new state-of-the-art museum. Scottish Crannog Centre MD, Mike Benson, said; “Over the past 20 year...
Friday, 05 June 2020
An innovative prototype system for automating tree seed planting and propagation has been hailed as a saviour for Scotland’s tree planting programme impacted by COVID-19 The new system emerged as a response to an open competition - run by the Scottish Government’s CivTech programme in 2019 on behalf of Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) - that challenged companies to find new ways to make bette...
Wednesday, 03 June 2020
A European Protected Species – the endangered Great Crested Newt (Triturus cristatus) - has been given a boost at its most northerly UK outpost thanks to Forestry and Land Scotland’s creation of a pondscape in a Strathpeffer woodland. Created over the course of around four years with the advice and guidance of local experts, Katie O’Brien and her father David, the ‘pondscape’ dev...
Tuesday, 02 June 2020
Anyone with an interest in how Forestry and Land Scotland’s Glenwhan site, around 9 km east of Stranraer, is managed over the next 20 years is invited to take part in a consultation and give their views. This third generation Land Management Plan being developed for the site includes details of how FLS intends to manage the site until 2030, as well as indicative plans for the 10 years aft...
Tuesday, 02 June 2020
Urgent forestry work required at Puck’s Glen will mean that all access will be stopped – except for the Big Tree trail, which will also have some diversions in place. Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is advising the public that felling to tackle an outbreak of tree disease Phytophthora ramorum at Upper Puck’s Glen, (near Dunoon) next month will see the Black Gates trail closed. E...
Monday, 01 June 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland has been working with Raasay Development Trust (RDT) to help keep a renewable energy scheme on track. The Inverarish Hydro Scheme is the first application of its kind to FLS’s Community Asset Transfer Scheme - to build and operate a community owned ‘run-of-river’ hydro scheme. But to secure feed-in tariff for providing power to the National Grid, the scheme...
Friday, 29 May 2020
Laser equipped drones that can ‘see’ the lay of the land beneath a forest canopy are helping Forestry and Land Scotland to plan how it manages woodlands. The LIDAR drones have been helping FLS’s East Region team with planning the felling of trees affected by Phytopthora ramorum, a disease which is steadily making its way towards Drummond Hill, above Kenmore and Loch Tay. LIDAR is a system ...
Thursday, 28 May 2020
As people begin to enjoy the outdoors more following the easing of some COVID-19 restrictions, FLS is encouraging everyone to exercise their patience first and foremost. The call from FLS Chief Executive, Simon Hodgson, highlights that the forestry organisation’s leisure and recreation facilities – including car parks, mountain bike trails and toilets - are unlikely to be fully open before th...
Thursday, 21 May 2020
Ahead of the May long weekend (22 – 25 May) Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is reminding people that all of its car parks and visitor facilities remain closed as part of Scotland’s response to the challenges of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Following the publication of Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis (21 May), FLS is urging people to comply with the phasing announced and stay ...
Thursday, 21 May 2020
A significant programme of felling will start at Kilmun Hill (near Dunoon) next month as Forestry and Land Scotland tackles an outbreak of tree disease Phytophthora Ramorum. The only way of dealing with the disease, which causes extensive damage and mortality to larch trees and other plants, is to fell and remove affected trees to reduce the risk of its spread to other woodlands in Cowal an...
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
The regular return of red squirrels to a local Fife woodland after an absence of many years is being taken as nature’s ‘thumbs up’ for Forestry and Land Scotland’s (FLS) management of the site. The squirrel sighting - reported by a local resident who had thought to never see red squirrels back in the area in his lifetime – came one year after some thinning and clear felling was ca...
Tuesday, 19 May 2020
As it begins planning for a post-COVID recovery, Forestry and Land Scotland’s South Scotland team is beginning to think about work at Glentress. Included within the overarching aims of the Glentress Masterplan proposals, trail restructuring will bring about a ‘refresh’ at one of Scotland’s most popular mountain biking locations. Regional Manager, Sallie Bailey said; ...