The three Ms of forestry are being put into practice at a new Borders project - Stuart Goodall

When I talk or write about forestry, I often highlight three Ms – modern, mixed-species and multi-purpose woodland.

We have modern standards for forestry management that provide for a mixture of species to be planted – resulting in woodlands that deliver multiple benefits. A new take on this approach is set to take root in the Scottish Borders.

Borders Forest Trust, a charity dedicated to restoring native woodland and wild places, and investment company Gresham House, have concluded a joint deal to buy land near Moffat, and to plant a wide range of tree species.

Under the deal, the two organisations will each operate a specific area of the Ericstane site.

Stuart Goodall is Chief Executive of forestry and wood trade body Confor

Borders Forest Trust will expand its existing new native woodlands at nearby Corehead, and take full ownership of The Devil’s Beef Tub, a landmark of scenic and cultural significance which attracts many visitors to the area.

Gresham House, meanwhile, will focus more on timber-producing species to expand its own woodland area close to the M74.

The two organisations are coming to the project from different perspectives, but for me, their collaboration highlights the old adage ‘What unites us is much greater than what divides us’.

As Jason Sinden of Gresham House puts it: “By working together, we are able to utilise the strengths of both organisations, together with different funding sources, to achieve a common aim.”

The joint venture will link up a large area of woodland, and manage it as a combination of native woodland, wood-producing forestry, peatland, and montane scrub. The latter is found above the tree line in hilly, damp areas and creates habitats for many plants and insects.

So there are biodiversity benefits from the project, as well as very significant carbon-cutting impacts from planting trees (of many species). Over time, the productive trees will create a large timber crop, vital to helping the UK reduce its long-term and growing reliance on timber imports; 80 per cent of wood products used in the UK are made from trees grown abroad.

Planting more trees here can reduce that reliance on imports as global timber demand soars. This helps reduce long-term pressure on fragile forests overseas.

The productive trees will be managed and harvested, creating local jobs, and will ultimately provide timber for Scottish sawmills and other wood processors to turn into wood products we use in our everyday lives.

It’s great to see both Jason Sinden, and Charles Dundas, Chief Executive of Borders Forest Trust, stressing the project’s sustainability and its “landscape scale” delivery. This means the parties take a long-term, holistic approach which is sympathetic to the surrounding area.

Charles Dundas says the purchase gives Borders Forest Trust “a unique chance to work with a big firm like Gresham House and help productive forestry work as sympathetically and sustainably as possible, alongside conservation woodland”.

He says Ericstane gives the Trust the chance to build on work already done on neighbouring sites like award-winning Carrifran, using the same core principles of extensive involvement by volunteers and local communities.

I’ll conclude by echoing the words of Jason Sinden, who says the project is an “exciting vision of the future”.

An exciting vision indeed, and one which proves that new woodland is not an either-or choice between producing timber or protecting and expanding nature. It can be both, based on those three Ms; modern, mixed-species and multi-purpose woodland.

Stuart Goodall is Chief Executive of Confor: promoting forests and wood