Views sought on new corporate plan for Forestry and Land Scotland

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is seeking views on its new, three-year corporate plan for 2022 to 2025.

Members of the public and those with an interest in how Scotland’s land is managed are invited to comment on the draft plan, which outlines a number of the Scottish Government’s actions and priorities, which will set out the organisation’s proposed direction of travel and priorities for the next three years.

FLS chief executive, Simon Hodgson, said: ‘We are in a unique position to make a significant contribution towards mitigating the climate emergency and helping arrive at net zero.

‘But at the same time we are also well placed to manage Scotland’s national forests and land in a way that supports and enables economically sustainable forestry; conserves and enhances the environment; and delivers health, wellbeing and economic benefits for people and communities.

‘Our proposals for how we deliver this are set out in our draft corporate plan and we are inviting all who have an interest in the national forests and land to give us their views on the outcomes and priorities

Scotland that we have identified. ‘We know that Scotland’s national forests and land mean many things to many people, and all views offered will help shape how we work and what we do over the next three years.

‘I would like to thank in advance everyone who takes part.’

Key priorities listed by FLS include protecting Scotland’s forests from new and existing threats, responding to the biodiversity challenge and developing the business systems and staff skills to enable FLS to adapt to changing conditions and challenges as effectively as possible. FLS also intends to develop more commercial opportunities for the long-term benefit of the land that it manages by increasing the number of opportunities for communities to benefit and to adapt to changing visitor and tourism requirements.

The draft corporate plan and consultation can be found online at consult.gov. scot/environment-forestry/ forestry-and-land-scotlanddraft-corporate-plan

The consultation will run until November 22, with the final, agreed plan published on April 1.