Wild Land News no 61, Autumn 2004

AGM Weekend At Glen Affric And Cannich Article

A successful AGM weekend was held at Glen Affric and Cannich in early June. The dates coincided with the first Glen Affric/Cannich/Strathglass walking festival so the area was buzzing and the weather was kind.

The main activity on the Saturday was an interesting walk up Glen Affric with expert commentary from Alan Watson Featherstone of Trees for Life, an environmental charity working to restore the forest in the Glen (see www.treesforlife.org.uk for more details). Also with us for some of the time was Sandra from the Forestry Commission Scotland District Office, and we met up with Malcolm Wield, the District Manager in the Slaters Arms later, for a meal.

After the meal, there was a brief AGM followed by a high quality slide show from Alan (as part of the walking festival) with time for discussion and comment after the slides. The next day some SWLG members went up the local hills in Glen Affric whilst others joined another festival walk looking at regeneration work by Trees for Life, including their efforts to encourage Aspen regrowth and propagation.

Trees for Life have achieved a huge amount without owning any land, by just getting on and doing it. They have worked closely with owners, especially the Forestry Commission, over some years, and also the National Trust for Scotland. FCS are to be credited with enabling the involvement of TfL and working well together to make Glen Affric a key reserve of international importance for Caledonian Pinewoods. Thanks to the work by TfL, other private estates are now willing to build links with them and thus spread the word and activity.

The key issue here, as in many parts of Scotland, is grazing pressure - primarily from deer, but also from sheep. In this respect TfL have less power to influence private owners, and FCS can only work as a landowner within the local Deer Management Group. There are different policy objectives on deer control between FCS and many local private estates, and FCS can only do so much on their own. SWLG believes more active direction should come from the Deer Commission on controlling deer numbers, both here and elsewhere in Scotland.

The Steering Team members became aware, during the weekend, of some of the tensions arising from the relatively recent changeover of policy - from establishing plantation commercial forestry to chopping down such plantations, reducing deer numbers on FCS land and encouraging pine, birch, hazel, aspen etc regrowth. The effect of these changes locally, for forestry and estate workers and contractors in respect of employment, investment and policy emphasis, were added to by the slump in international timber prices and resultant falling demand for commercial forestry timber.

TfL are to be credited with maintaining a consistent philosophy in respect of aiming for the regrowth of the Caledonian Pinewood, and also for trying different methods for achieving it. This is dependent upon the extent of existing remaining trees and other vegetation cover as well as grant requirements and land owners' policies. TfL are also monitoring their work and doing much educational and wildlife/plant studies work. Their work on aspen propagation, for example, is attracting interest from many sources.

A short note about the AGM business agenda appears separately, as are thoughts from Steering Team member David Jarman, on the Glen Affric weekend and issues seen and discussed.

Alistair Cant