Planting for a Better Future
My first view of Bunloit was from the village. Looking up to the clear-fell site of Borlum Wood, it was a bit of an eyesore, but that’s what all clear-fell sites look like after the forwarders and harvesters have been in. All the stumps left bare, a few single trees standing vulnerable in their isolation, the ground floor suddenly exposed to the power of the sun and the rest of the elements. The mis-management of our forests lead us to crisis point in the early 1900’s and again post WWII, when all but 5% of native tree cover was left. This led to a surge in Sitka Spruce plantations on good and bad sites.
Sitka Spruce is originally from the West coast of North America, but is quite at home on our well-drained, deep soils and wet Scottish upland climate, growing fast and straight. We need forestry, it provides over £285 million GVA to our economy, a timber source for building material and pulp and paper, over 30,000 jobs and places for recreational activities. The more we produce the less we need to import; we just need it on the right sites, and we need to be planting as much native woodlands at the same time.
Borlum Wood covers 40.45ha and was planted with Sitka Spruce and Larch. It was felled in 2016 after a bad storm caused a severe amount of wind blow. It was then re-stocked with Sitka Spruce, Scots Pine and a NW border of broadleaves in Dec 2018. The re-stocking of any felling site is a requirement under Scottish Forestry Policy, to maintain a level of sustainable tree cover across Scotland. Here at Bunloit Rewilding we want to manage the land for nature and climate change while also increasing rural employment. Although Forestry is an asset for the company in years to come, we don’t want another clear-fell scar on the landscape. We want to increase native broadleaf woodlands on the estate and manage our forestry under a continuous cover practice.
We decided to survey the natural regeneration within Borlum and compare that to the planted trees. The whole compartment was deer fenced to protect the saplings, and it has been successful. There is little evidence of browsing pressure, the trees look healthy and are getting away, as are the hundreds of native Birch saplings covering the area, including many Rowan and Willow. There is also a small burn running through the site that is already bursting with Alder and Birch regeneration, creating a riparian zone.
Our plans are to expand this Riparian strip from its current 30meters to 60meters width and extend it up to the north boundary. This will link with the common grazing woodland over time, connecting habitats as it remains a broadleaf woodland, even when the Sitka Spruce is harvested. We will also remove some of the Sitka Spruce in plots and re-plant with Broadleaves to created pockets throughout, with the final composition being 60/40% conifer/broadleaf. In about 10 years’ time we will have to start thinning the Sitka Spruce to avoid the creation of dense untinned stands and also to allow some broadleaves to grow within areas that are dominated by the spruce. All our alterations to the original re-stock plan will have to be approved by Scottish Forestry. Hopefully with approval we will create a species rich woodland managed under low impact silvicultural systems (LISS), while still allowing for forestry incomes to support employment within the Bunloit team.
Nicola Williamson