Woodland Creation in Scotland:
Information from:
https://forestry.gov.scot/support-regulations/woodland-creation
http://mires-and-peat.net/media/map23/map_23_01.pdf
https://www.gov.scot/news/funding-to-restore-scotlands-iconic-peatlands/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10113-019-01550-3
In recognition of the important role Scotland’s woodlands play in rural land use and sustainability, the Scottish government are offering a Forestry Grant Scheme to support the efforts being made to plant. This scheme offers an average of £4,000 per hectare, covering support from planning to protection. There is a high success rate with applicants, as 99% of applications are successful and 75% were able to begin within 20 weeks. They provide a walk-through guide for discovering whether an applicant’s land is suitable for the programme. Three payments will be given to successful applicants; initial planning payments, annual maintenance payments for 5 years, and capital grants. Their Land Information Search provides a medium to ensure that applicants pick the best trees for their land and soil. The positive environmental intentions are emphasised through their reminder that trees remove large amounts of carbon dioxide per year and house many species of Scotland’s wildlife. 15,000 hectares of trees are aimed to be planted per year within 10 years.
However, despite the UK’s historical good intentions in afforestation, this has been found in some cases to do much more harm than good. The Scottish peatlands are one of the world’s large bog areas, which describes a kind of land which covers about 3% of the world’s land surface area, and cover around 20% of Scotland as a whole. Although bogs have been dismissed in past years due to their unproductive and subjectively ugly appearance, they are actually very productive in taking in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They take in twice as much carbon as the entire of the world’s forests, and are thought to currently hold over 600 Gt of carbon. Northern peatlands, including those in the British Isles, Russia, North America, etc., hold around 90% of this carbon, and Scottish peats have been holding their carbon for 10,000 years. The UK government’s encouragement since the 1970s and 1980s to plant trees over these valuable areas, in order to gain timber production and increased woodland, has not only produced weaker and less valuable wood for production, but also significantly damaged the peatlands, consequently releasing the carbon that had been locked away previously. Initially, the peats were drained in order to create better timber, which also destroyed many animals’ habitats. The destruction of the peatlands threatens the habitats of ground-nesting birds, the merlin, hen-harrier, curlew, and also newts, frogs and lizards. The Scottish peats are also sometimes used to create compost, which can remove the sensitive bog vegetation and carbon rich soil, ultimately damaging their natural abilities. In neglecting the importance of these areas in fighting global warming, the newly planted trees cannot compensate for that which is lost from the peatlands, and as the trees mostly become fuel, their own captured carbon also returns to the atmosphere.
In other areas in the world, this kind of planting may have been a positive thing. Reforestation attempts in Korea following 1953, the Kwimba Reforestation Project, and reforestation in the Mixteca region of Mexico can all be considered reforestation success stories. However, a lack of research and planning into the Scottish peatlands area has led to a destructive impact, despite good intentions. From this experience, experts are encouraging other countries with large peatlands areas, such as Indonesia, to not make similar mistakes. They are encouraged to plant native trees rather than foreign ones, and to make sure there are a range of different species of trees, in order to make the transition of planting these forests less destructive. Planting trees that are suited to the peatlands’ environment is essential to this. Another risk to foreign peatlands is hydrocarbon exploration, which competes with environmental preservation for possible economic gains. Scientists are in the process of finding plants that are best suited for the peatlands environment, preventing more negative impacts on the bogs.
As both the peatlands and woodlands are very important factors in regulating the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide, it is essential that both are preserved in the UK. The forest planting on Scotland’s peatlands does not align with their forestry standards, and currently, planting that has occurred on the peatlands can legally be removed so that the area can recover. Distinctions between and considerations of deep and shallow peats must also be considered in this process. 18% of the UK’s peatlands have already been converted into forests, and 20% of European peatlands more widely, but it has been estimated that 80% of the UK’s peatlands have been damaged in some way in recent years. Forests that are planted in the area are expected to return any captured carbon dioxide within years to decades, while the peats capture carbon indefinitely, making afforestation in this area very damaging. The natural conditions of peat cannot be compared to the more reactive wood, in terms of their effectiveness in storing carbon. Experts therefore aim to continue to restore afforested areas to the peatlands they were before. While peatlands show traces of woodland far underneath them, from thousands of years previous, this covered a small area a long time ago; woodland in the UK is most appropriate on hillsides and slopes alongside the peatlands instead. Growth of trees on peatlands damages the natural ground and risks releasing large amounts of carbon and wildfires.
In Ireland, Byrne and Farrell’s 2005 report suggested that there would be no lost amounts of carbon from the afforested areas, as the trees made up the amount of carbon lost. However, as this failed to account for the carbon that was released through the peatlands’ destruction, the peatlands’ are affirmed as very valuable stores of carbon. Many methods have been developed to encourage the regrowth of the peatlands, and these efforts should bear fruits within 15 years. 2018’s Climate Change Plan from the Scottish government outlined improved land management as an aim in the current years. Thus, the Scottish Government have recently invested £30 million to improve 25,000 hectares of peatlands, and this will continue through the Scottish Government’s 2020 pledge, promising to dedicate more than £250 million towards the cause, across 10 years. According to this pledge, in 2021-2022, 5 partner companies, including NatureScot and Scottish Water, will receive a share of £22 million to enact positive changes through new projects across Scotland. However, there is little current compelling policies to encourage ordinary people to try to restore the peatlands, a fact that should be worked upon. Although close proximity of woodland and peatland has historically been beneficial, helping preserve the peatlands, the fact that 80% of the peatlands are damaged and dry means that their close proximity is now said to put the peatlands at risk of further drying. The forestry removal within previously peat areas therefore does not technically qualify as deforestation in the same way that the cutting down of trees otherwise would. It has been estimated that, if things do not improve, by 2050 half of the currently-stored carbon of Scotland’s peatlands could be at risk of loss.
On the other hand, there has been some evidence to suggest that peatlands and woodland do not need to be so separate. In Scandinavia, among other countries, wooded bogs suggest that the two can be successfully incorporated. In fact, a lack of woodlands can lead to rivers undermining the peatlands and a lack of biodiversity, it has been warned. Restoration of rivers alongside peatlands threatens the peatlands’ growth, and this has been addressed with timber dams, although this method interrupts wildlife and creates possible problems for removing them in the future. A better mode of action might be to integrate woodland into the area. When it comes to the peatlands, there is a large resistance against the idea of bringing trees anywhere near them, but this might be preventing a better long-term conservation of the environment. It has been highlighted, additionally, that many bogs can remain safe and tree-free even in close proximity to woodland.
In conclusion, it is evident that the afforestation of Scottish peatlands, starting in the 1970s and 1980s, has had worrying effects on the bogs that are so important for locking away large amounts of carbon. Forests cannot compare to conservation of these areas, and so it is necessary to restore those destroyed areas of peatland. Nevertheless, in some cases, integration of woodland and peatland may be considered, in order to prevent the damaging impact of rivers on peatland. However, the fact that most of the UK’s peatlands are naturally treeless indicates that restoration to this natural state may be the best course of action, in reversing the affects humans have had one the area. Further research would be beneficial in this area. The conservation and repairing of peatland should therefore be encouraged with incentives to the British public, in order to make the quickest impact on repairing these natural areas.