Modern forestry extraction practices see one man able to remove amazing swathes of pine trees using complex but brutal machinery. In the process, the forest floor is ripped up and will take decades to recover. Not just peat bogs that hold peat as most of our pine forests are grown on peat. Older, but much slower and labour intensive methods were considerably kinder to the environment with little disturbance to the forest floor and the bonus of early replanting.
Comments: 2
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24 Jun
Nick MacIneskarThis is a timely suggestion and one that needs investigating given the Land Management Plan (LMP) that will see SSSI areas deforested commencing in 2020 and continuing for some decades. This is the link to Forestry and Land Scotland and their LMP: https://forestryandland.gov.scot/what-we-do/planning/consultations/knapdale-land-management-plan-consultation
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03 Jul
John CraigThanks for the link Nick. Also worth scrutiny is highly questionable tree planting methods. Planting of Alder, Hazel, Birch et al observed on land in the Scourie area sees an excavator digging up a shovel full of soil (ie Peat) and depositing it beside the excavated hole. On this small mound a new tree is planted,presumably to give greater depth for root growth. Multiply this by several thousand and you have moorland ripped apart and negating the assumed purpose of planting in the 1st place.