Felling Update Autumn 2022

Felling Update Autumn 2022

If you have been up through Moss Wood lately and taken the West Highland way, you will have seen that some of our areas of mature plantation forest have now been felled. It certainly looks very different and dare we say it - quite unattractive - although as a bonus the new views over to Colintraive are amazing!! We were obliged to remove our good larch (to avoid it getting diseased) and will be re-investing the income from the harvesting in the Community Forest.

So, with the felling comes an opportunity for a fresh start and we are busy making plans for the future of the forest. We plan to replant these felled areas with a native broadleaf trees and shrubs that will naturally regenerate to massively increase our biodiversity. These replanted areas will knit back together with our existing oak, birch and alder woodland to create a larger area of cohesive woodland that can be enjoyed as an expanded habitat for wildlife and as a community asset by future generations. At this early stage we are also working with Nature Scot and the Woodland Trust to ensure we achieve these goals for conservation, restoration and biodiversity.

All of our replanting proposals will be set out in our woodland management plan for approval by Scottish Forestry. We will also set out our ideas for new paths and forest infrastructure in our Bute Community Forest Plan, and we’ll be seeking feedback on this over the coming months and at our October AGM.