Biodiversity

Woodlands offer a unique and diverse habitat that thousands of species call home. Mammals, birds, invertebrates, plants, lichens, and fungi rely on a woodland’s diverse structure.
Creating more woodland helps up to restore and reconnect Scotland’s wooded landscape. At just 18% of land area, Scotland’s wooded area is 22% lower than that of the European average. Creating larger, wooded habitats will enable us to expand and join up vital wildlife corridors on a transformative scale – with each tree giving nature a fighting chance to recover.

• Native oak trees can support over 2,300 species – 326 of which are entirely dependent on oak for their survival

• Non-native conifers provide cover from the elements for larger mammals, whilst birds of prey and small birds, such as Crossbill, Tree creeper, Coal tit and Siskin may use them for nesting and cover during the winter months. They also support wider conservation efforts for Red squirrel and Pine marten by creating future habitat.

Woodland along rives and streams provide shade to keep rivers cool for fish and other aquatic life. The leaves, twigs and branches that fall in to the water are also beneficial for plants, invertebrates, and fish.

The Stobo valley currently provides little protection for the movement of animals though the landscape. Indeed, the only cover for wildlife want to move between Tarchreish & Penveny and Woolshears to the north is 2 Scots pine knolls and burnsides.

Beyond this, there is ~1km of open ground that must be crossed. There is also no connectivity south-west to north-west across the site, wildlife corridors are needed to maximise the cumulative habitat gain of the other proposed schemes in the area.

The planting design considers this and looks to connect the isolated existing woodland on the site into native woodland habitat alongside commercial plantation to create a contiguous corridor for ~5km up the glen south-east to north-east and ~2.5km South-west to north-west across the glen.

Flood Mitigation

Woodland creation is a form of natural flood management, this is where natural features and characteristics are used to slow down and store more floodwater within upstream catchments. There are several ways trees can reduce flood risk:

• First, trees generally evaporate more water than other types of vegetation, which can reduce the volume of floodwater draining from the land. More evaporation reduces the amount of storm rainfall reaching the woodland floor, and results in drier soils than can store more of this water below-ground.

• Second, soils under woodland tend to be better structured than under other land uses, enabling more storm rainfall to enter and pass through the soil rather than quickly run-off the surface. Woodland soils have 11 – 20 times greater permeability than pasture soil increasing the capability for stormwater to pass in to the soils.

• Third, trees, shrubs and deadwood, particularly along stream sides and within floodplains exert a greater drag on floodwaters when compared with grass – delaying flood flows.

• Finally, tree cover protects the soil, decreasing soil erosion and the delivery of sediment to watercourses which helps to reduce siltation and thereby increasing the capacity of main river channels to safely convey floodwater downstream.

Health and Well-being

Scientific studies around the world have shown that forests can improve individual’s physical and mental health, as well as their social well-being.
Woodlands provide an opportunity to exercise in a calm and restful environment. Exercise in woodland has been shown to relieve physical symptoms such as high blood pressure and obesity, as well as mental symptoms of stress and depression.

Carbon Capture

With the declaration of a climate emergency it is important we seek to capture carbon wherever we can. Trees remain one of the best ways to soak up and lock away carbon dioxide. A well planned commercial woodland can provide carbon capture on a scale that is not seen in native woodland. Data from the woodland carbon code shows that Sitka spruce is 3x as effective at carbon removals than pure native woodland. On top of this, 2 – 3 cycles of Sitka spruce may be harvested in a single cycle of native woodland, further compounding the carbon removal capability of the woodland.

Trees also sequester carbon in to the soils. Locking carbon in to the soil reduces its ability to contribute to climate change.

The Stobo Hope Woodland creation proposal seeks to establish approximately 509 ha of productive conifers in the upper Stobo catchment (non-productive crop components excluded). In the short-term, fast-growing conifers can capture up to eleven times as much carbon as broadleaved woodlands, whilst over 80-year span conifers can capture three times as much carbon - particularly if wood products are included. Over the first 100 years of the forest’s lifespan it is expected to sequester around 158,000 thousand tonnes of CO2e.

Access

Woodland creation brings access benefits through improved tracks, removal of stock and stock fencing, and variation in scenery. The change in land management removes limitations in access due to shooting and stalking season. Any new fencing associated with woodland creation tends to allow access with multi-user swing gates rather than styles. Indeed, this scheme has included access gates at least every 1km around the perimeter fence and at every crossing with core paths / well-used informal access. Stiles will be used sparingly.

Sustainable Timber Resource

The UK is one of the largest net importers of wood products in the world, second only to China. 81% of wood products come from overseas. As a nation we have a responsibility to reduce our reliance on overseas goods and grown our own resources.

Sustainably sourced, home-grown, timber is one of the best materials we can use in many aspects of modern life. It has the lowest embodied energy (i.e. energy used in its processing, production, and transport, from tree to consumer use) of any mainstream building material, and significantly less than for steel, concrete, or aluminium.

The overall design provides landscape scale connectivity between existing forestry plantations of Woolshears, Ladyurd, Penveny , Tarcreish and Dreva and will consequentially add to the timber production potential for the immediate locality.
It is anticipated that by the end of the first rotation (2074) , the forest will have yielded 289,150 tonnes of timber.

Local employment

The project will provide employment – over 20 years of FTE employment over the first five years. Services and labour will be sourced from providers locally wherever possible. Euroforest Silviculture have expanded employment at their Carlisle and Stirling offices, creating 2 full time local jobs initially, to manage Stobo Hope Forest and other properties within the region.

Opportunities to facilitate the use of the site by local schools, colleges, universities and industry participants to utilise the site for educational and research purposes are anticipated.

Parts of the site are close to the heart of visitors and activity groups, and we are wholly committed to improving the facilities they already enjoy.