The potential for native woodland in Scotland:
the native woodland model Management

Natural Heritage Management

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Assumptions and general principles underlying the Native Woodland Model
• The value of modelling potential woodland cover
• Methodology
• How accurate is the NWM?
• How potential woodland types correspond to HAP types
• Use of the Native Woodland Model – case studies
• References
• Appendix 1 The base datasets
• Appendix 2 The National Vegetation Classification
• Appendix 3 Allocation of woodland types to different site conditions
• Appendix 4 Correspondence between NWM and HAP types

References

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Birse E.L. (1980) Plant Communities of Scotland A Preliminary Phytocoenonia. Soil Survey of Scotland Bulletin No. 4. The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.

Breckenridge, J. (2001) The validation and assessment of a native woodland predictive model using field survey information and geographic information system techniques. Unpublished thesis. University of Edinburgh.

Cairngorms Partnership (1999) Cairngorms Forest and Woodland Framework. Cairngorms Partnership, Grantown on Spey.

Dunham, R., Gardiner, B., Quine, C.P. & Suarez, J. (2000) Forest Gales, a PC-based wind risk model for British Forests. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh

Gray, H. & Stone, D. (2003) Applications of spatial data in strategic woodland decisions: an example from the Isle of Mull In: J. Humphrey, A.Newton, J. Latham, H. Gray, K. Kirby, E. Poulsom & C. Quine (Eds.) The Restoration of Wooded Landscapes. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh.

Hale, S.E., Quine, C.P. & Suarez, J.C. (1998) Climatic Conditions Associated with Treelines of Scots Pine and Birch in Highland Scotland. Scottish Forestry 52, 2, 70-76.

Hall J.E., and Kirby K.J. (1998) The relationship between Biodiversity Action Plan Priority and Broad Habitat Types, and other woodland classifications. JNCC report 288.

Hester, A.J. (1995) Scrub in the Scottish Uplands. Scottish Natural Heritage Review No 24. Scottish Natural Heritage, Battleby.

Hester, A.J., Towers, W. & Malcolm, A. (1999) The Potential for Native Woodland on the Island of Rum. Contract report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Hester, A.J, Towers, W. & Malcolm, A. (2003) Modelling the potential distribution of woodland at the landscape scale in Scotland. In: J. Humphrey, A.Newton, J. Latham, H. Gray, K. Kirby, E. Poulsom & C. Quine (Eds.) The Restoration of Wooded Landscapes. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh.

Horsfield, D. & Thompson, D.B.A. (1997) Ecology and conservation of montane scrub. Pp 21-34, in: D. Gilbert, D. Horsfield & D.B.A. Thompson (Eds.) The Ecology and Restoration of Montane and Subalpine Scrub Habitats in Scotland. Scottish Natural Heritage Review No 83. Scottish Natural Heritage, Battleby.

McVean, D.N. (1963) Growth and mineral nutrition of Scots pine seedlings on some common peat types) Journal of Ecology, 51, 657-670.

McVean, D.N. (1966) Establishment of native trees and shrubs on Scottish nature reserves by direct seed sowing. Scottish Forestry, 20, 26-36.

McVean D.N. & Ratcliffe D.A. (1962) Plant Communities of the Scottish Highlands. Monographs of the Nature Conservancy No.1. HMSO, Edinburgh.

Macaulay Institute for Soil Research (1982) Soil and Land Capability for Agriculture. 1:250,000 Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen

Macaulay Institute for Soil Research (1984) Organization and methods of the 1:250000 soil survey of Scotland. The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.

Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (1993) The Land Cover of Scotland 1988 (LCS 88). The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Aberdeen.

MacKenzie, N.A. (1999) The native woodland resource of Scotland: a review 1993 – 1998. Forestry Commission Technical Paper 30. Forestry C9ommission, Edinburgh.

Peterken. G.F. (1996) Natural Woodland. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Peterken, G.F. (1998) Woodland composition and structure. In: A. C. Newton & P. Ashmole (Eds.) Native woodland restoration in southern Scotland: principles and practice. Occasional paper no. 2, Borders Forest Trust, Ancrum, Jedburgh.

Pyatt G. (1995) An ecological site classification for forestry in Great Britain. Forestry Commission Research Information Note 260. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh.

Pyatt, D.G. & Suarez, J.C. (1997) An Ecological Site Classification for Forestry in Great Britain with special reference to Grampian, Scotland. Forestry Commission Technical Paper 20. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh.

Rodwell, J.S. (1991) British Plant Communities Volume 1: Woodlands and Scrub. Cambridge University Press.

Rodwell, J.S. & Patterson, G. (1994). Creating new native woodlands. Forestry Commission Bulletin 112. HMSO, London.

Scottish Executive (2000) Forests for Scotland, The Scottish Forestry Strategy. Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department, Edinburgh.

Thompson, R., Humphrey, J., Edwards, C., Davies, O. & Poulsom, L. (2001) Analysis of age structure in Atlantic oakwoods – implications for future woodland management. Report to the Caledonian Partnership for the Life ‘97 project: Restoration of Atlantic oakwoods. Forest Research, Bush.

Tipping R (1997) The Postglacial history of montane tall shrub communities in Scotland. Pp 11-20 in: D. Gilbert, D. Horsfield and D.B.A. Thompson (Eds.) The Ecology and Restoration of Montane and Subalpine Scrub Habitats in Scotland. Scottish Natural Heritage Review No 83. Scottish Natural Heritage, Battleby.

Tipping, R. (1998) The application of palaeoecology to native woodland restoration: Carrifran as a case-study. In: Newton, A.C. & Ashmole, P. (Eds.) Native woodland restoration in southern Scotland: principles and practice. Occasional paper no. 2, Borders Forest Trust, Ancrum, Jedburgh.

Towers, W., Malcolm, A. & Hester, A.J. (1998a) Mapping the potential distribution of NVC woodland types in part of the Western Highlands. Report to Scottish Natural Heritage/ Highland Birchwoods.

Towers, W., Malcolm, A. & Hester, A.J. (1998b) Mapping the potential distribution of NVC woodland types in the Angus glens. Irvine Ross Forest Management/Tayside Native Woods.

UK Biodiversity Group (1998) Tranche 2 action plans. Vol II. Terrestrial and freshwater habitats. English Nature, Peterborough.

Wormell, P. (1968) Establishing woodland on the Isle of Rhum. Scottish Forestry, 22, 207-220.

Further Information

Journal and other refereed publications

MacMillan, D.C., Towers, W., Macleay, S. & Kupiec, J. (1997) Predicting the potential distribution of Native Woodlands in the Cairngorms. Scottish Forestry, 51, 70-75.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J., Malcolm, A., Ross, I. & Baird, E. (2000) Forest planning in the Cairngorms - a strategic approach. Scottish Forestry, 54, 153-160.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J., Malcolm, A., Stone, D. & Gray, H. (2000) Modelling native woodland potential in the Scottish uplands. Landscape Research, 25(3), 392-394.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J., Malcolm, A. & Stone, D. (2002) The use of soils data in natural heritage planning and management. Soil Use and Management, 18, 26-33.

Conference Proceedings

Forestry Commission (2000) Cairngorms Forest and Woodland Framework Practitioners Seminar, SNH, Battleby, Perth, January 2000. Seminar Report. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh.

Towers, W., Bronham, J. & Torley, D. (2000) Woodlands in the Forest of Spey - past, present and future. In: A. Niskanen & J. Vayngnen (Eds.) Regional Forest Programming: A participatory approach to support. Forest-based regional development. European Forest Institute Proceedings, No.32, 1999 , pp 83-92.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J., Malcolm, A., Ross, I., Baird, E., Shepherd, N., Stone, D. & Adamson, J. (2000) The development of a forest and woodland framework for the Cairngorms Area, Scotland. In: W. Slee and I. Hughes (Eds.) New Opportunities for Forest-Related Rural Development. IUFRO Symposium, University of Aberdeen, August 1999, pp167-173.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J., Malcolm, A. & Stone, D. (2001) A strategic approach to native woodland expansion in the Scottish uplands. Proceedings of: Forestry Beyond the Timberline, Akureyri, Iceland, June 2000. Annals of the Icelandic Forestry Society, pp132-136.

Towers, W., Malcolm, A., Hester, A.J., Macmillan, D.C. & MacLeay, S. (1999) Native woodland restoration - development and application of a predictive model for strategic planning. In: A.J. Hester, R.V. Birnie & J. Lund (Eds.) Grazing Management Options for Native Woodlands. MLURI, Aberdeen.

Other reports

Macmillan, D.C., Towers, W. & Macleay, S. (1996) Mapping the potential distribution of NVC woodland types in the Cairngorm area. Report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Macmillan, D.C., Towers, W., Malcolm, A. & Hester, A.J. (1997) Development of NVC woodland modelling in the Cairngorms. SNH Report on Consultancy Contract MRC 046.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J. & Malcolm, L.A. (1999) MLURI native woodland model-potential distribution of woodland scrub communities in natural heritage zones 10, 11 and 12. Report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J. & Malcolm, A. (1999) MLURI native woodland model-potential distribution of woodland scrub communities in natural heritage zones 6, 8 and 14. Report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J. & Malcolm, A. (1999) MLURI native woodland model - potential distribution of woodland and scrub communities in natural heritage zones 7, 13 and 15. Report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J. & Malcolm, A. (2000) MLURI Native woodland model - potential distribution of woodland and scrub communities in Natural Heritage Zones 2 (part), 4 and 5. Report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Towers, W., Hester, A.J. & Malcolm, A. (2001) MLURI Native woodland model - potential distribution of woodland and scrub communities in natural heritage zones 19 and 20. Report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Towers, W., Malcolm, A. & Hester, A.J. (1998) The Potential Distribution of NVC Woodland Types in part of the Western Highlands of Scotland. Contract report to Scottish Natural Heritage /Highland Birchwoods.

Towers, W., Malcolm, A. & Hester, A.J. (1999) The Potential for Native Woodland Types around Loch Sunart. Contract report to Scottish Natural Heritage.

Towers, W., McKeen, M., Hester, A.J., Malcolm, A., Ray, D., Quinne, C.P., Gray, H. & Stone, D. ( 2001) A preliminary comparison of outputs from the Ecological Site Classification (ESC) and the Native Woodland Model (NWM). Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report F00AA104.

Waterhouse, E.C., Chalmers, N.A., Ross, I., Towers, W., Bullough, D., Gordon, I.J., Hester, A.J., Milne, J.A., McKeen, M. & Malcolm, A. (2000) Invercauld Estate Audit. A final report for Invercauld Estate. Scottish Natural Heritage, the Cairngorm Partnership and Grampian Enterprise.

Waterhouse, E.C., Chalmers, N.A., Crabtree, J.R., Gauld, J.H., Gordon, I.J., Hester, A.J., Malcolm, A. & Milne, J.A. (1999) The Mar Estate Audit Project. A final report for Mar Estate and Scottish Natural Heritage.