Felling Operations on a Rewilding Project
Bunloit Estate is home to a number of non-native conifer plantations that sit atop peatland and are nestled amongst native broadleaf woodland. The big question for the past year has been; when is cutting down trees the right thing to do? Helge Hansen - our Woodlands Manager – has outlined the decision making process below.
This autumn we will start harvesting some of our commercial non-native conifer plantations that were planted around 50 years ago, on Bunloit Estate. After a year of consultation with experts form the Woodland Trust, Rewilding Europe, Scottish Forestry, Nature Scot and Trees for Life, we came to the conclusion that clear felling these 5 plantations is the best solution to accelerate nature recovery on Bunloit. We did consider thinning the monoculture plantations and gradually underplant them with native species, but due to the age structure and small compartment size, we believe that the first big storm would blow most of them down.
Over spring and summer we had various ecologists on site doing valuable baseline surveys that will help underpin the actions we are taking. We now also have data from 15 camera traps that were positioned strategically around the estate, to monitor wildlife densities and movements (you can see some of the footage here).
As well as this, researchers from the University of the Highlands and Islands are monitoring the behaviour of red squirrels during the felling period. Several red squirrels have been radio collared so that they can be tracked before, during and after the felling operations, to determine the effect of felling on their range and dispersal. We hope that this will provide valuable data for future felling operations, so that we can create management plans best suited to the species that may be affected.
The first monoculture plantation to come down is planted on peatland. Over the past year we have had research undertaken on peat depths and have produced carbon calculations to guide our decision on the best route forward here. Recent research suggests that in the long run, restoring the degraded peatbogs sequesters much more carbon than the existing non-native conifer lodge pole stand. Therefore, once the plantation has been removed, we will work with Peatland Action to implement restoration processes on this site.
All other clear fell areas that are not on deep peat will be replanted with a diverse mix of native broadleaves, alongside natural regeneration. Species will include mainly birch, oak, hazel and rowan. We will also create soft woodland edges with native shrubs like hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, guelder rose, dog rose and elder. The timing of the felling has been carefully chosen to avoid the bird nesting season and also taking into account that there will be less traffic on the Bunloit hill after the summer holidays, ensuring the timber lorries will impact fewer people.
The majority of the felled timber will be transported to mills in Dingwall and Nairn where it is processed into boards, beams, fence posts and slats - this way we will still be retaining carbon stores within the wood. The lower quality timber will be turned into wood based panels such as Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and the poorest quality will be used as biofuel. We will retain about 40tons of timber for milling on site, which we will use to build two wildlife hides, wooden benches and tables.
Updates on our felling operations and work undertaken thereafter will be posted on our socials. Follow along to see the changes happening as we begin crucial work, after a year and a half of conferring on all things rewilding @bunloitrewild.
Helge Hansen