Letter: Fuel for thought

Ron Greer (Letters 21 September) suggests we should chop down all "exotic trees that cover much of our national parks" for stove fuel. If by this he is proposing that the non-native trees should be burnt, then in addition to sitka spruce all our elm, beech, lime, ash, maple and chestnut trees will be cut down under his plan.

He also seems to be suggesting our moorlands are man-made and while early settlers may have had an impact, most of our blanket peat developed in the wetter periods after the last ice age, which ended over 10,000 years ago.

Meanwhile, it will take only a few weeks to burn the logs of one ten- year old tree but ten years to replace it - hardly the sustainable fuel source he suggests.

ALAN BLACK

Camus Avenue

Edinburgh