Letter: A landscape in need of new resources

The landscape of Scotland lies, biologically, on the southern edge of the Arctic, not the northern edge of the Mediterranean, and the potential is that of a good northern climate, not a poor southern one.

Our perception of what is possible is a gross underestimate of what it actually is, and Lesley Riddoch highlights this by describing the work of Greer, Pretswell and the Loch Garry tree group.

So, to put things into perspective, why indeed are we worrying about rhodies, when we should be worrying about the vast areas of landscape devoid of forest cover, a poor reflection of what it is capable of?

The land-ownership system perpetuates this condition and inhibits the potential of our rural communities, and the political elite still have an urban-centred environmental attitude and have failed to understand the nature of sustainable development.

Derek Pretswell

Natural Resources Scotland

Creran Gardens

Oban

The experience at Loch Garry, mentioned in Lesley Riddoch's article, highlighted the need to consider woodland from a multiple benefit perspective.

In this particular case it was the role of broad- leaved trees in providing a major source of the plant material that drives the fish-producing ecosystem of the loch.

It was never an attempt to reproduce some ecologically ersatz reconstruction of some past sylvan nirvana from any previous time period.

All that is now gone, and we cannot replicate the processes and chronology that lead to the establishment of the original native forest.

The challenge is to create a forest for the future that offers a multi-purpose, multi-benefit potential from both a human economy and environmental perspective.

The same forest that produces building and pulp timber, fuel wood and autumn-colours tourism (worth billions of dollars in New England) could also be the one that produces red deer twice as large as they are now, stores CO2, helps prevent extreme floods and protects our transport infrastructure from landslips and avalanches.

That forest could comprise a range of component species, from a pragmatic mix of exotic and native species in a diverse cultural landscape to a definitive native-only policy in our national parks and nature reserves.

Is there the political will to create the management structures, land reform and local government reform required?

Ron Greer

Blair Atholl

Perthshire

It is not often that you can grant someone's wish, especially when it relates to large parts of Scotland's landscape.

But I am pleased to do that for Lesley Riddoch.

In her article, Ms Riddoch railed against conifer monocultures, suggesting they be modified and a restriction placed on planting new ones. Instead, new forests should be more mixed supporting greater diversity.

No new monocultures have been planted since the 1980s and the single-species plantations of the 20th century are now being restructured to provide for open space, greater species diversity and a more sympathetic look within the landscape.

This will take time, as forest rotations are 40 years plus and any process of change needs to be undertaken gradually to protect and support wildlife. Scotland's forests are increasing in diversity, while locking up carbon and providing more employment.

They support businesses large and small that combined are worth 1 billion to Scotland's economy, employing 20,000 people. That is something that we should all be proud of and seek to grow.

Stuart Goodall

Confederation of Forest Industries

George Street

Edinburgh

Best enviro-news of the year - full marks Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) for pledging to eradicate the rhodie.

In a report for Scottish Natural Heritage, I predicted that some of our most famous views - such as from the Fort William-Mallaig railway - would steadily disappear behind rhododendron walls unless action was taken.

In fact, the priority is not to eliminate the dense cores at great expense, unless scenery or ancient woods are at stake. Regular sanitation to prevent these cores spreading is essential, especially along the ravines and roadsides which rhodies love to colonise, often beyond the forest fences.

This may be less dramatic but is much, much cheaper. I hope FCS will also require private forest owners to do likewise as a condition of grants - and tackle another alien species, the dreaded sitka spruce. It, too, is escaping far up the mountainsides as grazing pressures reduce, especially on crags and in rockfalls.

I predict that unless this is routinely checked, much of our beloved open Highlands will be impenetrable conifer scrub within a few generations.

Regarding your second leader - I, too, love ornamental rhodies and have planted several large ones - purple ponticum is the only culprit.

David Jarman

Mountain Landform Research

Lanark Street

Glasgow