…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
I studied forestry at Aberdeen University at the time of the rapidly expanding afforestation of the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland. One day, the Chief Executive of Fountain Forestry, the company that was the leading player in this misadventure,
Continue readingThe Forestry Commission is planning to sell the 790 hectare Tioran Forest on the Isle of Mull and have advised the community that it has the opportunity to acquire it under the National Forest Land Scheme (NFLS). I have blogged about
Continue readingWhen I was at University in 1980s studying forestry, Forestry Commission land was being sold off and the private sector was booming with generous tax breaks on offer to investors to plant trees. Particular controversy erupted over the rapid expansion
Continue readingCampaigners are today celebrating the “saving” of England’s public forests. But what about the real issue of who owns England’s publlic forests? And what if all that has happened is that the UK government is preparing to hand the entirety
Continue readingIt was announced today that the Scottish Government is to spend £3m on building a pier to export timber from Mull’s forests and “boost the island’s timber business”. Whilst this may boost the timber harvesting business, it does nothing for the
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The following was first published as a Guest Column in the West Highland Free Press on 10 August 2012. The subject matter is one of a large number of vital topics that should be addressed by the Scottish Government’s Land Reform Review Group.
Continue readingWestwater plantation in Dumfries-shire – owned by a landowner in Surrey and granted over £1 million in Scottish forestry grants. Last year I was commissioned by the Forest Policy Group to undertake research into who owns Scotland’s forests. The report
Continue reading(This Comment piece was published in The Herald on 4 February 2010.) The debate in England about the future of the public forest estate is now causing some serious discomfort for the coalition government as MPs are flooded with letters
Continue readingThe following piece was published in the Observer on 16 January 2010 and is reproduced here with the addition of annotated footnotes and hyperlinks. Last week, I received an email from the campaigning group 38 Degrees imploring me to sign
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