The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
21ST-CENTURY WOODLANDS
THE growth of forestry and wood processing, into a £1billion industry employing more than 25,000 people, is a modern-day Scottish success story. The sector defied recessionary pressures to grow by 50 per cent between 2008 and 2014, when other industries were struggling badly.
Yet many people are still surprised at the scale, skill and range of modern forestry. That’s why Confor, as the industry’s trade body, has led the way in communicating its true face - as a sustainable, responsible and hi-tech sector delivering enormous benefits to our environment, economy and communities.
You might have watched the recent BBC Countryfile special on forests, where presenter Matt Baker made that point very clearly; 21st Century forests and woodlands deliver multiple benefits. His fellow presenter Ellie Harrison was in the north of Scotland for the programme in Culbin Forest near the Moray Firth, at BSW’s sawmill in Boat of Garten and at Makar, near Inverness, where beautiful, modern wooden homes are created.
When Ellie Harrison highlights the absence of waste in a modern sawmill and praises the strong forestry and timber supply chain to around 8 Million people on Countryfile, that’s a powerful message. And that’s why Confor worked with Countryfile for over a year to make the forests special happen.
The programme-makers recognised Confor’s leadership in the sector, its access to more than 1500 forestry and wood processing businesses (half of them in Scotland) and its knowledge, understanding and overview of the whole supply chain, from nurseries through to sawmillers and beyond.
I was delighted to be interviewed for the programme, and to highlight that while England and Wales struggle with planting, Scotland is powering ahead. Fergus Ewing has been an informed and energetic Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and understands what forestry and wood processing can deliver for Scotland.
We have worked very closely with Mr Ewing since he came into post a year ago, proving that a combination of political will, effective collaboration across the public and private sector and practical action can drive up tree planting.
Confor has worked hard over years to ensure Scotland had an appropriate grant system with one agency (the Forestry Commission) in charge, unlike the threeagency guddle which operates in England. We discussed with Mr Ewing what bureaucratic barriers remained, a process which has resulted in an excellent report by former Chief Planner Jim Mackinnon containing pragmatic and highly achievable proposals.
We expect these proposals to help get Scotland very close to its target of 10,000 hectares of new planting in 2017-8, a country mile ahead of the rather woeful 1,000-hectare target in England (which is likely to be missed).
And the Scottish Government is going further by raising its target from 10,000 hectares per year to 15,000 hectares annually by 2024-5. Again, this is a practical, achievable target linked directly to policy objectives - reducing the impact of climate change and using more home-grown timber in and around our homes.
There are challenges ahead, not least the availability of land. It is important to make clear that the forestry sector wants to plant in appropriate places, not to blanket Scotland in trees. However, as Fergus Ewing has repeatedly made clear, around 30 per cent of Scotland’s land mass is suitable for tree planting, against current forest cover of only 18 per cent.
Confor is committed to working with partners like The Woodland Trust on a “right tree, right place” philosophy, recognising the importance of productive forestry to create the everyday wooden products we all need, as well as provide for biodiversity and recreation. And as well as working with the Scottish Government, Confor is in regular contact with MSPs from all parties, and is very active at Westminster. Drew Hendry, SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, will speak at our Planting The Future conference at Westminster in June.
Confor is committed to increasing the knowledge and understanding of forestry across the political spectrum, and as part of a regular programme of visits, arranged for North-East list MSP Peter Chapman to visit the Glen Tanar Estate and James Jones & Sons’ sawmill in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire.
These visits allow Confor to showcase our hi-tech, modern sector and to highlight the tremendous investment in the wood processing sector in recent years. The £90million investment by Norbord in its panel board plant on the outskirts of Inverness is now taking shape, while sawmillers like James Jones (which has bases at Mosstodloch and Forres as well as Aboyne) and BSW are also investing heavily. Confor arranged a visit to BSW’s sawmill at Corpach, Fort William, earlier this year for Brexit minister Robin Walker MP as part of a factfinding mission in Scotland.
Confor has calculated that around £50m of new investment has gone into wood manufacturing in Scotland every year for the last decade, supporting rural employment and strengthening rural communities in the North and the North-East.
This investment has come directly as a result of the amount of timber coming to the market - currently around 8 million tonnes per year in Scotland - thanks to historic planting. And that’s why Confor continues to work so hard to ensure planting rates are at a level to support rural jobs and communities in the coming decades.
At the same time, we see enhanced opportunities for forestry after Brexit. Last autumn, Confor published A Thriving forestry and timber sector in a post-Brexit world and in June, we will publish our latest proposals on the industry’s role in a more joined-up rural policy and funding framework in future.
We do not seek to champion forestry over farming; we just want a level playing-field where choices about land use can be made in the best interests of communities. Noone would suggest planting prime agricultural land with trees, but there is plenty of less fertile land which would be better-suited to forestry than farming.
Confor will continue to use its unique position working across the whole forestry and wood-using supply chain to identify and tackle the various challenges that face the sector - including communicating the success story of modern forestry, and its potential to deliver so much more for our environment, economy and communities.
*Stuart Goodall is Chief Executive of Confor” promotoing forestry and wood. To find out more about Confor, please call 0131 240 1410, email info@confor.org.uk - or go to www.confor.org. uk or @forestsandwood on Twitter.