from Sunday Herald, 04 November 2012
A Highland landowner accused of “blatant vandalism” in a protected
ancient Caledonian pine forest is under investigation by the Scottish
government’s wildlife agency.
Michael Bruce, the owner of the 10,000-hectare Glen Tanar estate on Deeside, is to be visited by officials from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) tomorrow after complaints that forestry operations had damaged trees, killed plants and scarred the landscape.
The alleged damage was discovered by Aberdeen mountaineer, Derek Pyper, during a cycle ride up Glen Tanar on 17 October. When he reached Halfway Hut, he was shocked to see that wide tracks had been bulldozed into the woods.
“There was a large area of what had been attractive woodland reduced to deep mud – not a pretty site,” he told the Sunday Herald.
“Many mature trees had been deeply scraped with a large machine, which virtually sentences them to death. At one side of the machine track, a beautiful, old Caledonian pine had some of its large branches broken and left hanging.”
“After my initial shock at this blatant vandalism, I felt sad that an estate like Glen Tanar had allowed this to happen,” he said. “I’ve always thought of Glen Tanar as being one of the more public spirited and environmentally aware estates in Deeside and Donside. It seems I’m wrong.”
Glen Tanar contains some of Scotland’s finest native woodlands, which are meant to be protected by law from damaging operations. The glen is covered by five major nature conservation designations, and is within the Cairngorms National Park.
Pyper took photographs of the damage and passed them to Dr Adam Watson, a respected conservation biologist and veteran expert on the area. The heavy machinery had killed vegetation and left native trees vulnerable to rot by skinning their barks, Watson said.
The damage was “scandalous”, he argued. “It’s the worst I have seen in many woods over recent years, and particularly reprehensible because it is in a beautiful section of ancient pinewood. I regard it as land vandalism on a large scale.”
Watson complained to SNH and demanded that action be taken to curb “unlawful” activities in Glen Tanar. The use of heavy forestry machinery “must be prohibited forthwith”, he urged.
SNH’s Tayside and Grampian area manager, David Bale, said: “We've received a complaint about potential damage at Glen Tanar and will visit the site on Monday to investigate.” The Forestry Commission is also understood to be looking into the matter.
The landowner Michael Bruce accepted that the forest near Halfway Hut was in “poor condition”. But he argued that “one of the wettest summers in decades” was partially to blame.
“Although work was programmed for a period of dry weather and we located extraction routes to avoiding the wetter areas whenever possible, there was intensive rain during the operation,” he said.
“Some ground disturbance was therefore difficult to avoid but as this is normally a dry ridge we expect the vegetation to recover quickly over the next couple of years. We are liaising with SNH and the Forestry Commission and we understand that the site will be visited in the coming week.”
Bruce pointed out that another area of alleged damage at Etnach was outside the designated National Nature Reserve. The work to remove a small block of non-native conifers was only “partially completed”, he said.
“Glen Tanar Estate operates at all times within our agreed long term forest plan, which was prepared after public consultation and consultation with SNH and the Forestry Commission.”
The plan, which was finalised in 2009 and covers 20 years, aims to expand the 4,000-hectare forest with native trees and natural regeneration. “We have a regular dialogue with, and are open to inspection at all times by these partners,” added Bruce.
“All our forestry harvesting work is carried out under licences from the Forestry Commission and we are committed to adhering to industry good practice guidance.”
Comments