PICTURES: Coigach and Assynt Living Landscapes helps to plant more than one million trees on crofts across northern Scotland as part of a project by Croft Woodland Project in partnership with Woodland Trust Scotland
A Highland organisation has helped with a project which has been extended beyond its initial five year phase because of its success.
Coigach and Assynt Living Landscapes was one of a number of groups which worked with Croft Woodland Project in partnership with Woodland Trust Scotland.
Almost 300 crofters have helped plant more than one million trees on Scottish crofts and organisers now aim to plant two million more.
As well as planting twice as many trees as the first phase of the project organisers are aiming to:
• collaborate with nurseries to secure supplies of local provenance trees, especially suited to the region;
• pilot MyForest Creation, a user-friendly tool for developing new woodland proposals, with the Sylva Foundation and Scottish Forestry;
• work with the insurance industry to secure affordable woodland cover for small woodlands;
• champion croft woodlands in relation to post-Brexit rural funding;
• explore the potential for carbon income from croft woodlands.
Other organisations which have been involved include: Scottish Crofting Federation, Point and Sandwick Trust, Scottish Forestry, Argyll Small Woods Coop, Orkney Woodland Project, Shetland Amenity Trust and the Communities Housing Trust.
Crofting is a system of small scale food production, unique to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, which was originally designed to protect the indigenous people from exploitation by landlords in the 19th Century.
Today it helps maintain communities and economic activity in remote areas. However, it has had little tradition of woodland management – until the 1991 Crofter Forestry Act, woodland ownership and management rights were reserved for landowners, not their crofting tenants.
Eleanor Garty, the team manager with Woodland Trust Scotland, said: “When we started out, planting on crofts had reached a low point. After the Crofter Forestry Act there was a flurry of woodland creation, but by 2015 it was clear that extra support was needed to help crofters overcome the financial and technical challenges of establishing trees in what are often very harsh conditions.”
Iona Hyde, who is about to take over as team manager, said: “Thanks to the project there is now a tradition of woodland creation and management beginning to take shape across the crofting counties.
"Knowledge and skills are growing with it. Society is increasingly realising we need more woodland to fight back against climate change and biodiversity loss. Crofters are a million trees ahead of the game and we hope to see twice that again in our second phase.”
Crofter Bill Ritchie, the scheme’s advisory group chairman for the first phase, said: "Crofters benefit from increased shelter for animals and in some cases their homes; increased biodiversity on the croft, and some mitigation for the carbon dioxide emissions from crofting activity. It has been a win-win situation for everyone involved."
Donald John MacSween, who will chair the advisory group for the second phase which runs until 2025, said: "The project has been a huge success in every crofting area, and it is great that it has now been extended for another five years.
"The success has been due to knowledgeable staff, ease of access to the scheme, and good partnership working across the Highlands and Islands. The foundations are sound and I am so pleased that it will continue for another five years, and hopefully for many more after that."
John Risby, Scottish Forestry’s Highlands and Islands conservator, said: “Crofting provides significant opportunities for more tree planting across the highlands and islands.
"To reach the Scottish Government target for woodland expansion we need everyone to participate, small woods are just as important as large ones, and ensure they can access the grant funding available across Scotland.
"Recognising some of the challenges, we have a specific woodland creation option for the Northern and Western Isles and have recently made this available throughout the crofting counties. We are delighted that Woodland Trust will lead the partners in a further five years of the croft woodlands project."
