Transporting Timber from the Flow Country Developing a Strategy: A Discussion Document The Highland Timber Transport Group Chairman: Frank MacCulloch CEng MICE November 2007 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country Transporting Timber from the Flow Country Contents THE ROLE OF THE HIGHLAND TIMBER TRANSPORT GROUP .............................................................................................. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 LOCATION AND CATCHMENT PLAN ..................................................................................................................................... 2 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3 THE CATCHMENT AREA .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 4 TIMBER OUTPUT PREDICTIONS .............................................................................................................................................. 4 WHERE WILL THE TIMBER GO? ................................................................................................................................................ 6 HOW WILL IT GET THERE? ....................................................................................................................................................... 6 THE PUBLIC ROAD NETWORK ................................................................................................................................................ 7 THE „IN FOREST‟ ROAD NETWORK ....................................................................................................................................... 8 THE RAIL NETWORK ................................................................................................................................................................ 8 THE WAY FORWARD .............................................................................................................................................................. 9 The role of the Highland Timber Transport Group The Highland Timber Transport Group (HTTG) is a voluntary partnership of public and private sector organisations with a common interest in resolving timber transport issues in the Highlands. The group acts to promote solutions to timber transport problems and it is with this aim that it has commissioned this report. Timber output from forests can vary substantially from predictions for a variety of reasons. The information in this report is based on a summation of predictions from a number of sources. It has been prepared as a guide to transport strategy development and does not purport to be a definitive forecast of future production. Acknowledgements The HTTG acknowledges funding assistance for strategy development from the Scottish Strategic Timber Transport Scheme, HITRANS, Forestry Commission (Scotland) and The Highland Council. The author wishes to thank Jolyon Amos of Fountains, Tim Cockerill of Forest Enterprise and Frank Roach of the Highland Rail Partnership for their assistance in providing background information. Colin JT Mackenzie BSc BSc(Eng) CEng MICE FIHT Project Consultant to the Highland Timber Transport Group 1 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country Location and Catchment Plan Fig 1 Location and Catchment Plan 2 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country Introduction During the 1960‟s-1980‟s extensive planting of conifer forests was carried out over a wide area of East Central Sutherland and West Caithness. These plantations are now reaching maturity and it has long been recognized that there are major obstacles to be overcome for timber to be transported to market. The purpose of this report is to summarise the key transport issues and to propose a strategy for dealing with them. The Catchment Area The area for this timber transport strategy has been chosen to include all those forests which naturally fall within the “catchment” of the A897 Melvich to Helmsdale road. It includes some 17,500ha of public and private forests within a wide area including the catchments of the following rivers: The Helmsdale The Naver The Strathy The Halladale The Thurso, West of Westerdale Background This area of East Central Sutherland and West Caithness is amongst the most sparsely populated and remote in the UK. The only transport links available for extracting timber are a fragile single track road network together with the Far North Railway Line, which currently has no timber freight service. With timber production from the area set to increase substantially from its present level of 30,000tonnes per annum (tpa) over the next three years there is an urgent need to develop a sustainable extraction strategy. There is a history of controversy over the decision to plant conifer forests on the peatlands of Central Sutherland and Caithness but it is not the role of this report to engage in debate about the past. The key facts is that there are large forests maturing on or adjacent to peatlands and these peatlands are now recognized as being of national and international importance. The questions to be addressed now are: How can the existing timber resource be got to market How can the remaining forest be best managed and restructured to maximize the environmental and economic benefits Whilst this paper concentrates on the first of these points it has to be recognized that the development of an extraction strategy cannot be done in isolation. If the greatest benefit is to be achieved a holistic approach has to be adopted considering all facets of what is complex equation. The timber extraction strategy must overlap with the Peatlands Management Strategy 2005-2015 and it is useful to repeat the Strategic Objectives of that document here: 3 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country 1. To promote and carry out land management that benefits nationally and internationally important areas of peatland, and associated habitats and species. 2. To promote and undertake sustainable woodland management, with an appropriate balance between woodlands and peatlands. 3. To encourage community and economic development that is compatible with safeguarding those features that make the peatlands important. 4. To promote greater awareness, understanding and enjoyment of the special wildlife, landscape, historical and cultural values of the peatlands. A key driver in determining the felling timescale is the need for felling to clear peatland for restoration work. Considerable work on this has already been carried out on the RSPB owned estate at Forsinard. Unfortunately much of the timber felled so far has been to waste. There is an opportunity, through collaboration between forest owners and stakeholders, with support from the Forestry Authority to develop a proposal for the harvest and marketing of 50,000tpa starting in 2010 for 5 years. When this is added to existing and other proposed timber flows it becomes clear that extraction over the public road network Fig 2 Felling to Waste may well not be an option without inordinate public expenditure on road upgrading. This is the challenge that must be addressed. Economic Considerations In considering solutions it is important to recognize the marginal, or even negative, economics of transporting timber to market from this area. Much of the crop in the early years will be low grade pine and prices are driven down by international competition. Costs fluctuate widely but with the difficulties of access and distance from the market, harvesting and road transport costs can be £20-£30 per tonne. With the market in North Scotland currently paying similar figures at the factory gate the forest owner is faced with the prospect of a modest profit if his timber is good quality and accessible or a clear loss in the reverse case. Indeed most of the peatland restoration clearance would be wholly uneconomic were it not for assistance by way of grant aid, as all afforested areas are in mid-rotation, comprised entirely of small roundwood. Timber Output Predictions Predicting the harvesting profile of this vast area has always been rendered difficult by the lack of existing suitable timber transport infrastructure and the marginal profitability mentioned above. In these circumstances there is little incentive for forest owners to work out detailed forest plans into the future. During 2007 the Highland Timber Transport Group embarked on a major programme to update output predictions across the Highlands, with a view to identifying areas of landlocked timber. The Flow Country catchment was one of the most important of these and with assistance of the public and private sectors it has now been possible to draw this information together. The Strathy forests have been included in this catchment because of the clear desirability of devising an „in forest‟ solution for extraction towards Forsinard. The alternative is for timber