We shall f ight them on the beeches!
Nature quango set to be sued for ‘poisoning’ trees
THE quango in charge of protecting Scotland’s natural beauty faces being sued over claims it deliberately poisoned hundreds of ancient beech trees.
A landowner claims Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) left an island on Loch Lomond looking like a ‘wasteland’ after killing trees without permission.
SNH was contracted by Luss Estates to rid Inchtavannach, visited by the poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, of invasive rhododendron bushes in 2013.
The agreement also provided for the mature beech trees, which SNH considered ‘non-native’, to be felled over five years.
But Luss Estates, owned by Sir Malcolm Colquhoun, claims SNH decided to ‘ring-bark’ and poison hundreds of trees at the same time without consulting it.
Ring barking, a process that slowly kills the tree by cutting off sap rising above a ring cut in the bark, created a ‘dead’ canopy on the island.
Lawyers for the estate have given SNH a deadline of the end of this week to reach a settlement, or they will launch legal action for damages. They are demanding that the quango covers: the cost of felling dead trees that are still standing; removing felled timber to the mainland; lost timber value and management; and legal costs totalling £152,340.
They are also insisting that SNH makes a public apology.
Simon Miller, Luss Estates chief executive, said: ‘This amounts to wanton environmental vandalism at one of the most beautiful places in the whole of the UK. The local community was appalled when it saw what had been done to the ancient beech trees on the island.
‘It beggars belief that the body that is supposedly responsible for protecting our natural heritage left Inchtavannach looking like a wasteland, and appears to have used the controversial chemical glyphosate in the process.’
He added that SNH ‘has refused to reach an agreement over felling and removing all of the unsightly and dangerous dead trees they have left behind, which have now been there for years.
‘We also now have correspondence which makes it clear the poisoning of the trees was unauthorised.’
In an email sent in July 2015, a conservation expert at Forestry Commission Scotland told Scottish Government officials that his organisation considered that ‘a felling licence for this operation would have been required’, adding: ‘SNH have confirmed that they didn’t think a felling licence is necessary because it was by chemical injection.’
The documents also confirm that SNH had no contact with Forestry Commission Scotland before the operation.
An SNH spokesman said: ‘We are disappointed to have received this claim as our staff continue to work closely with Luss Estates to find workable solutions to tackling the problems with non-native trees on Inchtavannach.’