Mearns estate has pioneering approach to forestry–

Fasque Estate offers facilities to other landowners on back of their own impressive success

As government encouragement to plant trees gains momentum, Fasque Estate at Fettercairn claims it is pioneering in its approach to the nearly 1,600 acres of forestry on its 8,500 acres.

The estate has been active in thinning, harvesting and adding value to the woodland through its own timber processing enterprise, and has established Fasque Forestry to deliver service to other landowners.

Fasque is one of two estates owned by Bill Dunnett, who lives at the 12,000acre Morphie Estate near Montrose. The estates are managed by John Harrison and Nick Canning, who have responsibility for farming, forestry, properties and shooting.

The estate has invested in machinery, including a John Deere harvester and two forwarders which can cut and stack 150 tonnes of wood per day. Two dedicated timber lorries have also been purchased to transport timber to the marketplace and there are five forestry staff.

The estate has now rolled out a contracting service which includes harvesting, production and transport to other estates, with Nick and John collecting data, conducting stem counts, species types, making applications to Scottish Forestry, dealing with construction of roads and other issues.

Nick explained: “The process starts with the felling licences or longterm forestry plans. Gaining all the information will lead to a schedule that will work for both parties. This is the time when we can plan the extraction of the timber by building roads, landing sites and any other infrastructure required or requested by the customer.

“By using the most up-to-date forestry equipment the machinery progress can be monitored in real-time. This shows the various wood qualities and quantities that have been harvested to the forest floor.

“The timber is then tracked by the software to roadside ensuring the customer receives complete accuracy of the felling process. Once the timber is removed then any repairs to the road system will be made by our own equipment.”

They already have contracts which range from hand-felling hardwoods to thinning or clear felling of commercial woodlands. The neighbouring Glendye Estate was their first customer and they are also working with estates in Aberdeenshire and Angus.

As well as harvesting timber on neighbouring estates, Fasque has also been acting on global climate concerns and has made a bid to become more sustainable by launching a woodland creation plan to reduce the estate’s carbon footprint.

This commitment led to the acquisition of Christie Elite Limited in Forres, the only British forestry nursery to produce cell and bare root saplings.

Fasque Estate can cut and stack 150 tonnes of wood per day.

The estate has all the relevant equipment to deliver a service to others.