Historic forest management deal

Sutherland community signs up to historic forest management deal.

A small community in the Far North of Scotland made history by agreeing to jointly manage 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of some of the oldest publicly owned forests in Britain.

This occurred when the North Sutherland Community Forestry Trust signed a joint management agreement with Forestry Commission Scotland for a cluster of national forests known as Naver and Borgie Forests.

Under the 25-year agreement, the Commission has formally committed to consult and liaise with the Bettyhill-based Trust over current and future management of the forests.

The Trust will also have first option to carry out work in areas of the forests where there are agreed management plans.

The agreement provides that the Commission and the Trust will also work together to: actively encourage joint projects; seek ways to enhance the benefits to the local community from existing timber operations and promote and facilitate local timber and forest products by, for example, offering for sale quantities of timber suitable for small-scale local contractors and the wider community; encourage and promote the use of the forest for public recreation; encourage and promote visitor interest through on-site and remote interpretation; encourage and promote sustainable use of the wild game in the forests, and consider the wider benefits this might bring to the wider community; seek to maximise the non-forestry benefits that can be provided by the unplanted lands at Borgie; investigate the potential for forest small-holdings and implement them where they are feasible; and consider and action where possible the leasing of land to the Trust, its subsidiaries and third parties where this would enable the furtherance of the above objectives.

The initial focus of the partnership agreement will be on the largest and best known of the five forests, the 3142-hectare Borgie Forest, for which the Commission and the Trust ALSO signed a joint management plan today.

The Trust and the Commission have already established a Borgie Forest Local Management Group that brings together representatives of both organisations to work as a partnership on the forests' management and planning.

Among potential forest-based opportunities the partners will investigate are tourism businesses such as pony trekking and holiday chalets, a nursery and arboretum, training programmes, woodland burial sites and game-based businesses.

Signing the agreement today was Hugh Insley, chief executive officer of the Commission's forest management agency, Forest Enterprise Scotland.

He said, "We're delighted to sign this agreement, and we look forward to getting down to work with the Trust to turn the words into reality".

""One of the priorities for action in the Scottish Executive's Scottish Forestry Strategy is to maximise the benefits from national forests to local communities.

As we have seen with similar joint management agreements with communities elsewhere in Scotland, this is an excellent example of one of the ways in which this can be achieved.

"The Commission's aim is to manage Borgie and Naver Forests as a public asset in a way that maximises the benefits for all sectors of the community, and we are committed, through actively supporting the Trust, to forming a fruitful partnership that will deliver those benefits to the local community." Trust chairman Sandy Murray signed the agreement for the Trust, and he said, "The Trust is delighted that we have got the management agreement in place".

"This will allow the community to work alongside Forestry Commission Scotland in the management and running of Borgie Forest for the benefit of both".

"We look forward to working with Forestry Commission to bring joint projects forward together.".

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