Strategic Plan Galloway Forest District Strategic Plan 2009-2013 Click here to begin Strategic plan 2009-2013 Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 3 About Galloway Forest District..................................................................................................................6 Section one: strategic context .....................................................................................................15 Context ............................................................................................................................................................16 Strategic priorities for Galloway Forest District .................................................................................18 Forest policy context...................................................................................................................................20 Section two: how Galloway Forest District contributes to the delivery of the Scottish Forestry Strategy ...................................................................................21 Key theme one: climate change ..............................................................................................................23 Key theme two: timber ..............................................................................................................................26 Key theme three: business development .............................................................................................31 Key theme four: community development .........................................................................................35 Key theme five: access and health..........................................................................................................39 Key theme six: environmental quality ..................................................................................................42 Key theme seven: biodiversity .................................................................................................................46 Section three: delivery and monitoring......................................................................................51 Appendices: ................................................................................................................................54 Appendix one: supporting maps ............................................................................................................55 Appendix two: evaluation of achievements (1999-2006) under previous strategic plan ....61 Appendix three: glossary for forest policy context diagram ..........................................................79 Appendix four: local thematic plans, management plans and guidance notes ......................81 Appendix five: portfolio analysis scoring on the national forest estate .....................................83 Using the document This document is principally intended to be read as an online publication and there are several hyperlinks linking readers to the Forestry Commission Scotland website for relevant publications. Please use the Microsoft Word ‘edit: find’ facility to search for specific words. 2 | Strategic plan 2009 - 2013 Strategic plan 2009-2013 - Introduction Introduction Woodlands offer endless opportunities for health, enjoyment and learning 3 | Strategic plan 2009 - 2013 Introduction Galloway Forest District Introduction The Scottish Forestry Strategy was launched in October 2006 as the Scottish Government’s framework for taking forestry forward through the first half of this century and beyond. This strategic plan defines how Forestry Commission Scotland, through its operating arm, Forest Enterprise Scotland, will implement the Scottish Forestry Strategy on that part of the national forest estate in Galloway Forest District. This is a five-year plan starting in 2009 and finishing in 2013. This strategic plan will also provide This plan has been amended to reflect the direction for implementing a repositioning feedback from a formal consultation process policy that will ensure that the nature and during 2008. The summarised consultation distribution of the national forest estate responses and the Forest Enterprise better reflects its role and purpose. Scotland response are both available on the Forestry Commission Scotland website. 4 | Strategic plan 2009 - 2013 Introduction The strategic plan is divided into three sections: Section one: strategic context Section three: delivery and monitoring This section explains how this strategic plan relates This section gives an overview of how Galloway to other Forestry Commission Scotland policies Forest District will effectively and efficiently deliver and strategies, taking a lead from the Scottish our strategic plan. It includes sections on: Forestry Strategy and the strategic plan for the national forest estate. • the operating principles that underpin all Forest Enterprise Scotland policies • operations and activities Section two: how Galloway Forest District contributes to delivery of the Scottish • delivery mechanisms, including Forestry Strategy repositioning the national forest estate • the monitoring and implementation process This section describes the context and specific actions that will be undertaken on the national forest estate in the district under each of the seven Impact on environment and equality themes of the Scottish Forestry Strategy: The results of environment and equality • climate change and diversity impact assessments of the strategic plan are available on the Forestry • business development Commission Scotland website. • timber • community development Review • access and health A review will take place towards the end of the • environmental quality period of delivery of the plan. If significant changes • biodiversity are made to the Scottish Forestry Strategy we will, if necessary, prepare a new strategic plan. The baseline figures detailed in the monitoring section of the strategic plan for the national forest estate will be updated and reported on annually, with contributions from each forest district. 5 | Strategic plan 2009 - 2013 Introduction About Galloway Forest District Galloway Forest District lies in South West Scotland Natural environment across the local authority areas of Dumfries and Galloway, South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire General and North Ayrshire. The district now extends to 117, 000 hectares (ha) as a result of the recent The district can be divided into inclusion of Arran and Kyle forests. It ranges from four major landform types that are pine plantation on coastal sand dunes, through reflected in our management: extensive spruce forests and wild moorland to the • Galloway Uplands, forming a contiguous summit of the Merrick (843 m), mainland southern block of upland forest and open hill, Scotland’s highest mountain, and the slopes of extending to around 60,000 ha Goat Fell (874 m) on Arran. Maps of the district and the forest blocks are given in Appendix one. • Machars moorland lying to the west of the district The district office is in Newton Stewart with • The eastern areas, moving away from outstations in Straiton (South Ayrshire), the granite upland and more typical Brodick (Arran) and Castle Douglas. of a Southern Upland landform The core of the district is around 25,000 ha • Arran – ‘Scotland in miniature’ (nearly 100 square miles) of rugged mountain, moorland and grassland surrounded by an extensive conifer forest, which is mirrored on a smaller scale on Arran. The earliest forests were established on the lower ground, and owing to good soils and early silvicultural practice they have a diverse range of tree species. The later forests, established from the 1960s to the early 1990s, were generally on poorer soils higher up the hill and established primarily as monocultures of Sitka spruce, reflecting the objectives of the time. Today, these forests are being restructured through harvesting and establishment of more diverse open and woodland habitats. 6 | Strategic plan 2009 - 2013 Introduction About Galloway Forest District Climate Water In general, the area has a wet maritime climate Galloway is drained by a number of river systems influenced by the Gulf Stream. Rainfall is that find their way to the Solway Firth or Clyde relatively high ranging from 1200 mm a year Estuary and are all key elements of the landscape to around 2000 mm in the upland zone. character and ecology of the area. There are Exposure to strong Atlantic winds is high. also many lochs in the area, mainly in the Doon and Ken-Dee catchments, where there are four Temperatures tend to be more moderate and hydroelectric generating plants. Some are public suffer less from extremes than most of Scotland, water supplies. Loch Grannoch and Loch Dee producing ideal growing conditions for conifers. are the only larger lochs owned or controlled Given the prevalence of deep peats and gley soils by Forestry Commission Scotland. Angling, which provide less support to tree roots than particularly for salmon and trout, is of significant do well drained mineral soils, however these importance in the local economy. A map of water conditions also lead to a high risk of windthrow. catchments in the district is given in Appendix one. River basin management is a developing skill and already involves close co-operation between the district, the Conservator for South West Scotland, the Forest Research Agency (FRA), Scottish