Historical commercial forestry: EIR release

Information requested

1. I’m looking for a list of the commercial forestry in Scotland from the 1800s onwards. Many of the seeds for Sitka, Douglas fir etc were sent to the Royal Horticultural Society by David Douglas, botanist, in the early 1800s. These trees subsequently grew on the lands of the great estates. Presumably this continued long before the forestry boom of the early 20th century, but if there are records of commercial forestry from before then that you know of then I’d be much obliged if you could find them.
2. Does any legislation exist to prevent the planting of commercial forestry directly beside salmon rivers or spawning burns? I believe such legislation was enacted by the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board, but have thus far been unable to ascertain the provenance of the rumours. If any research has been conducted by any organisations within the Scottish Government concerning the impact of commercial forestry on salmonid streams, then please source.

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested.

The exception which applies is Regulation 10(4)(a), information not held. This exception applies because some of the information requested was not held by Scottish Forestry at the time of your request, as noted below.

Request 1

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry.

The National Forest Inventory, held and maintained by Forest Research, includes ‘Census of Woodlands’ reports dating back to 1924 (see ‘Previous and related surveys’ here: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/national-forest-inventory/about-the-nfi/, and historical data may be available in the National Inventory of Woodland and Trees for Scotland reports, information on which is available here: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/national-forest-inventory/national-inventory-of-woodland-and-trees/national-inventory-of-woodland-and-trees-scotland/.

NatureScot also publish other sources of information on historic land uses, including forestry, and this is available here: https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/land-and-sea-management/managing-land/forests-and-woodlands/history-scotlands-woodlands

You may wish to contact Forest Research (https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/contact-us/) to see if they are able to provide additional information.

Request 2

The UK Forestry Standard (https://forestry.gov.scot/sustainable-forestry/ukfs-scotland) sets out the international and national legislative context for forestry in Scotland and across the UK, and sets out the requirements that woodland creation proposals must meet in order to be eligible for grant funding from Scottish Forestry. Chapters 6.1 Forests and Biodiversity (including sections on riparian zones, i.e. those immediately adjacent to rivers) and 6.7 Forests and Water may be particularly relevant to your query.

If any research has been conducted by any organisations within the Scottish Government concerning the impact of commercial forestry on salmonid streams, then please source.

This information is not held by Scottish Forestry.

Forest Research has undertaken research into the effects of forests and forest management on the acidification of soils and waters, and their report and associated Practice Guide and Research Note are available on their website here: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/research/forestry-and-water-quality/forestry-and-surface-water-acidification

You may wish to contact Forest Research (https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/contact-us/) to see if they are able to provide additional information.

You may also wish to contact Marine Scotland’s science and research division (https://www.gov.scot/collections/marine-scotland-science/), who may have undertaken additional relevant research.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.