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Birse Community Trust Slewdrum Forest BIRSE COMMUNITY TRUST SLEWDRUM FOREST FOREST PLAN 2011 – 2030 Birse Community Trust The Old School Finzean Banchory AB31 6NY Scottish Charity Number SC28220 Company Number SC188799 Slewdrum Forest - Forest Plan CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Name of Woodlands .................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Legal Details ................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Date of Plan Production............................................................................................... 3 2 DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................................................. 4 2.1 Location ....................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Area Statement ............................................................................................................ 4 2.3 Status ........................................................................................................................... 5 2.4 Land Use History .......................................................................................................... 5 2.5 Soils and Geology ......................................................................................................... 6 2.6 Elevation, Aspect and Topography .............................................................................. 7 2.7 Hydrology ..................................................................................................................... 7 2.8 Adjacent Land-uses ...................................................................................................... 7 2.9 Vegetation ................................................................................................................... 7 2.10 Fauna ........................................................................................................................... 8 2.11 Existing Woodlands ..................................................................................................... 9 2.12 Archaeology ............................................................................................................... 11 2.13 Landscape .................................................................................................................. 12 2.14 Recreation .................................................................................................................. 13 2.15 Community Involvement ........................................................................................... 14 3 Evaluation ..................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Woodland .................................................................................................................. 15 3.2 Non-Woodland Habitats ............................................................................................ 15 3.3 Recreational and Social Interests .............................................................................. 15 3.4 Constraints and Opportunities Analysis .................................................................... 16 4 MANAGEMENT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................... 21 4.1 Management Aims .................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Management Objectives ........................................................................................... 21 5 PRESCRIPTIONS ............................................................................................................................. 22 5.1 Legal Commitments ................................................................................................... 22 5.2 Forestry Standards ..................................................................................................... 22 5.3 Felling Programme ..................................................................................................... 22 5.4 Forest Cover ............................................................................................................... 24 5.5 Natural and Cultural Heritage ................................................................................... 33 5.6 Access and Amenity ................................................................................................... 34 5.7 Community Involvement ........................................................................................... 35 5.8 Protection Measures ................................................................................................. 36 5.9 Monitoring ................................................................................................................. 37 6 PLAN REVIEW ................................................................................................................................ 37 1 Slewdrum Forest - Forest Plan FIGURES Figure 1 Forest Area Analysis Figure 2 Species Composition Analysis MAPS 1. Location 2. Compartments 3. Soils 4. Ecological Site Classification 5. Current Species 6. Access 7. Summary of Proposals 8. Harvesting Constraints 9. Thinning Areas 10. Felling Periods 11. Restocking 12. Regeneration of Existing Open Ground Areas APPENDICES Appendix 1 Compartment Schedule Appendix 2 Production Forecast 2011 – 2020 Appendix 3 Deer Management Plan Appendix 4 Ecological Site Classification Report Appendix 5 Scoping Report 2 Slewdrum Forest - Forest Plan 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Name of Woodlands This Forest Management Plan covers the 166.64 ha of Slewdrum Forest. 1.2 Legal Details Slewdrum Forest is owned by Birse Community Trust (BCT), which purchased the property from Scottish Ministers in December 2006. BCT is a company limited by guarantee (SC188799) with charitable status (SC28220) that exists to promote the common good of the inhabitants of Birse parish and deliver wider public benefits. 1.3 Date of Plan Production BCT has produced this Plan with the assistance of Irvine Ross of the Ross Partnership. The Plan was adopted by BCT’s Trustees on 12 December 2011 BCT contact address: Birse Community Trust The Old School Finzean Banchory AB31 6NY Tel: 01330 850200 3 Slewdrum Forest - Forest Plan 2 DESCRIPTION 2.1 Location The civil parish of Birse covers over 120 sq.kms of mid Deeside in Aberdeenshire, North East Scotland (Map 1 – Location). The Forest is located in the north east corner of the parish on the southern bank of the River Dee approximately 2km downstream of Potarch Bridge 2.2 Area Statement Slewdrum Forest mainly consists of even aged stands of conifers dating from the early 1960s. These cover 73.2% of the Forest area. There are also some areas (7.1%) of existing native and predominantly native broadleaved woodland. The rest of the Forest area (19.6%) is open ground with two small groups of planted native broadleaves in tree shelters. The existing conifer woodland area (122.05 ha) is split between Scots pine/larch (48%), and the other non native conifers (52%). Table 1 Forest Areas Species Area (ha) % Native Broadleaves 7.50 4.5% Mixed Broadleaves 4.40 2.6% Open Ground 4.68 2.8% Open Ground (previously felled) 28.02 16.8% Scots pine/Larch 48-51 years old 55.77 33.5% Mixed Conifers 48-51 years old 66.28 39.8% Total Area 166.65 100% 4 Slewdrum Forest - Forest Plan Figure 1. Area Analysis 2.3 Status There are no statutory designations covering Slewdrum Forest. However, the River Dee and banks form part of the River Dee Special Area for Conservation. The qualifying interests are: Atlantic salmon, otter and freshwater pearl mussel. The northern boundary of the Forest follows the course of the River Dee on a line 20 yards back from the edge of the water. Two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are also adjacent to Slewdrum. The Shannel SSSI is to the west on the other side of the public road and the SSSI along the banks of the Dee is immediately upstream of Slewdrum. All of the property is included in the area of Potential Native Woodland Expansion Area recognised by the Forestry Commission. 2.4 Land Use History Slewdrum Forest was also known historically as the Commonty of Lendrum and survived as an ancient Crown Common until 1953, when the Forest was taken over by the Forestry 5 Slewdrum Forest - Forest Plan Commission (FC). In the past, the main common use of the site was livestock grazing by the local community and by drovers moving sheep and cattle to markets further south. Successive maps from 1822 to 1936 show the area as being largely bare of trees. Later maps show scattered broadleaved trees along the banks of the River Dee and the Burn of Grennoch. When the land was taken over by the FC, most of it was planted with a crop of commercial coniferous trees in the four planting seasons from 1959 to 1963. The main exception to the complete afforestation of Slewdrum other than the broadleaves on the river banks, was the strip of land down the western edge. This area, amounting to c.10% of the Forest area, was fenced off from the FC’s planting. This was to allow for any last flock master who might turn up not knowing that grazing rights no longer existed on Slewdrew as a traditional droving
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