Chance to lay down strong roots for the community

TEWARDSHIP of an ancient forest is not an enterprise to be embarked upon lightly. It requires understanding, experience, dedication and imagination. Between them, the Scottish Woodland Trust and Arkaig Community Forest, which yesterday acquired 2,500 acres of Caledonian pine forest, meet these criteria.

The two organisations joined forces to buy Loch Arkaig Pine Forest from Forest Enterprise Scotland under the National Forest Land Scheme, and their delight was tangible yesterday. It is a delight shared widely. It means the trees remain in the public realm, where their future will be best protected. Indeed, coupled with news that Glasgow’s North Kelvin Meadow and Children’s Wood are to be saved from developers, it was a good day for trees yesterday.

Loch Arkaig Pine Forest, near Spean Bridge, has some story to tell. Jacobite gold is thought to have been hidden there. The loch is said to contain a sea horse. Many of the trees are scarred with bullets fired by Commandos training there during the Second World War. And, to cap it all, Harry, Hermione and Ron flew over the forest on a dragon in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So, it’s an important, even a magical, place.

But magical places require downto-earth management – and money. The trust and the community group raised funds for the purchase and will continue doing so for the restoration work, projected to cost several million pounds. It will be worth it. This is an important area of biodiversity, and the planned regeneration of native species will increase the forest’s chance of longterm survival.

People come into the picture too, and the aim is to reconnect the local community with the forest and stimulate economic activity. Woodland Trust Scotland has promised to consult widely on its plans and it and its community partners are in this for the long haul. We wish all involved well with the hard work ahead.