Peatland experts from across the UK have seen first-hand how a new approach by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is benefiting commercial forestry and conservation efforts.

Delegates attending the annual IUCN UK Peatland Programme Conference in Aviemore – the UK’s largest peatland gathering – were taken to a FLS peatland restoration site at Dalchork to learn about how FLS’ harvesting, civil engineering and peatland teams are working in tandem to deliver operations that reduce costs and are more environmentally effective.

Bringing the various teams together from the onset of the project is resulting in greater cost efficiencies for the timber being harvested in a remote and challenging site while at the same time leaving the area in a better condition for peatland rewetting once the trees have been removed.

FLS Assistant Operations Manager for the North Region, Hazel MacLean, explained how the combination of forward planning, strategic felling and constructing stable low-impact log roads for extracting the timber is paying dividends.

“Using these innovative and collaborative techniques is allowing us to manage our land and forests sustainably and restore peatland, while also balancing economic, social and environmental requirements.

“It has been standard practice for the harvesting operations to take precedence on peatland sites identified for restoration. This has often resulted in the peat being left in poor condition where machines have bogged, and leaving islands of unreachable timber or trees – often in the hardest to reach places.  

“Collaborative working with our planners, harvesting and civil engineering teams along with standing sales contractors has allowed the peatland team to have input into harvesting plans and take access first with specialist techniques and machinery to leave the site in best possible condition for restoring.”

The plantation has been divided into several distinct sections that include the poorest part of the crop with no commercial value and sections that are suitable for being sold.

Peatland restoration contractors and FLS civil engineers then built access to reach each section ensuring a greater percentage of the better-quality trees could be harvested. These log roads and floated stone roads are used by our contractors for timber extraction and transportation and for future access to the site for rewetting work.

Hazel continued:

“Timber yields and  saleable timber products are maximized by using brash and lower density material to construct most of the extraction routes. This minimizes both build costs and the amount of stone required. Built correctly, they will require minimal maintenance and will prevent any damage to the underlying peat.”

This work forms part of the FLS Peatland Restoration Strategy with FLS a key delivery partner for NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION – a partnership dedicated to supporting the restoration of 250,000 hectares of peatlands by 2030.

 Peatland ACTION has published its first annual report  <https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-annual-review-2023-2024>, recording how Scotland achieved a record level of restoration in 2023. FLS recently reached the milestone of setting 10,000 hectares of peatland – on land it manages – on the road to recovery through ‘re-wetting’ sites.