Getting the best from our land, consultation on a draft Land Use Strategy for Scotland 2016 - 2021

Achieving the target of 100000 ha of new planting by 2022 will require us to know how to do it. There is a strong feeling that much of the new planting should be of broadleaved species, especially native trees. I support these aims but I do not think we have the knowledge base to achieve them. The reasons are twofold.

First, Scottish R&D capacity in forestry has been decimated over the past five years by a series of random changes that have no connection to SG policies. Examples are the loss of research capacity in Forest Research, the decision of Aberdeen University to discontinue forestry teaching, and retirements (including my own) from Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities. Scotland has unique environments and traditions for growing, harvesting and utilising timber and the vision for Scottish forests in 2022 is not the same as anywhere else in the world, so we cannot import the knowledge required, nor can we import planting material that is genetically well adapted to our conditions.

Secondly, the knowledge base that we have rests in a research community that is full of disconnects. There is insufficient constructive communication between the conifer people, who understand how to grow trees in an economically productive way, and the 'squirrels' who want to plant broadleaves but do not know how to establish the tree breeding, seedling production and planting infrastructure on the scale required, nor the harvesting technology and viable timber marketing chains. The second group includes some excellent community-based groups who are outside the formal research sector, and there is a cultural disconnect between these groups and the academic researchers.

I suggest the following actions:
1. Convene a series of workshops on the future of Scottish forests, designed explicitly to bring these disparate research and development communities together.
2. Identify the technologies needed to plant new broadleaved forests on the scale envisaged in Scotland; associate realistic TRLs (technology readiness levels) with these technologies; and match the new technology required against the current capacity to develop it.
3. Identify gaps in R&D capacity that can realistically be filled or bridged within the funding constraints available.
4. Based on 1-3, assess separate, achievable targets for new planting of broadleaves and non-native conifers, and reassess the target total.

Regarding the forestry sector, there are a number of enivironmental consequences of the choice between broadleaved and conifer species that are insufficiently well understood, or on which there is insufficient consensus. These include:
- Carbon balance, including medium-term changes in soil carbon, methane emissions on wetter soils, and medium-term carbon storage in the timber products (>50y if used in timber-frame building construction, near zero for biomass fuel)
- Susceptibility to windthrow and consequent damage to soil and water quality
- Avalanche protection
- Water storage and flood protection
- Recreational potential (e.g. conifer and broadleaved forests differently perceived by mountain biking and wildlife enthusiasts)

For reasons given in 21b