Bringing back the ‘wee trees’
The Forestry Commission Guidance Note, Treeline Woodlands and the Woodland Grant Scheme states: "It is now widely accepted that extending woodland cover 'up the hill' enhances biodiversity and can create a softer visual boundary between forest and open hill. In encouraging treeline woodlands in Scotland, the aim is to create a continuum of woodland cover which reflects climatic and edaphic (ie, soil) gradients from the valley floor to the biological limit of tree growth (the treeline)."
This is a considerable vision, for which the Forestry Commission deserves great credit, but it will not be achieved without far-sighted landowners who wish to make their own contribution towards realising this vision. By taking advantage of the available grants to pioneer restoration projects on their land, they can create examples which other landowners may wish to follow. The task is not easy because there is much still to learn on the best techniques for establishing scrub, but the potential benefits in restoring the uplands of Scotland to their full ecological potential and diversity are immense.
The treeline zone in most of the Scottish uplands today is represented by just a few shrubs and trees clinging to isolated cliffs (above left). But foresight and dedication can deliver a vision of extensively restored montane scrub from existing remnants, similar to what we see today, for example, in Craig Fiaclach (top right).
The Montane Scrub Action Group
The highest priority is to protect and restore the remnants of montane scrub that survive. That is a key task identified by the Montane Scrub Action Group, set up after a seminar on Montane Scrub in 1996. It is working to promote the importance of this habitat (through initiatives such as this booklet), while several members of the group, including the Scottish Agricultural College and Highland Birchwoods, are carrying out their own experimental projects on montane scrub restoration.
There is much to learn about how to propagate material for new planting, how to prepare the ground to encourage the establishment of montane scrub with minimum disruption of the natural ecosystem, and how to erect fences that exclude grazers without impacting on woodland grouse, the landscape and recreational access. Identifying 'best practice' in these techniques is another key task for the group.
The group publishes an occasional newsletter, Scrubbers' Bulletin, aimed at keeping informed all those actively involved in montane scrub studies and projects. Further details of the group are available from:
Montane Scrub Action Group
c/o Highland Birchwoods
Littleburn, Munlochy
Ross-shire IV8 8NN
(SAE appreciated).