I absolutely agree. I thank Edward Mountain for clarifying that for the Official Report.
I will consider some of the points that were made earlier. I know that Claudia Beamish had to leave the chamber early tonight, but Andy Wightman confirmed that we will be hearing from the deer working group and the Werritty group next year. I will write to Claudia Beamish with a response to the other questions that she raised.
I will move on to some of the other speeches. Gillian Martin raised a lot of important points, but one element that was missing was the yew tree. I was expecting to be regaled with tales of her Gothic youth, which I believe she has raised in the chamber. That would have been pertinent, given the day on which we are discussing these issues.
Finlay Carson’s speech about the bat was very interesting and, also, timely. Gail Ross talked about the red squirrel; I am very lucky because it is a regular occurrence to see them in my constituency.
There have been some fantastic speeches. I also welcome the speeches from members from the south of Scotland. Particularly this week, I have spent quite a lot of time travelling around the south of Scotland. This morning, I was at the Barony campus to discuss the forestry strategy with young foresters and people who are involved in the sector, and they are keen to contribute to that strategy. The south of Scotland is a beautiful part of the world where forestry is vital.
As we have heard, the Caledonian pinewoods are dominant through the northern mainland of Scotland, and they thrive on thin soils in low-fertility conditions. As well as being a beautiful and prominent component of our Highland landscape, they create an important habitat for wildlife, from mosses to mushrooms to pine martens. The pinewoods are home to some of our most iconic and rare species, including Britain’s only endemic species of bird, the Scottish crossbill, which is unique to Scotland.
Individual species are so important that, as I have said, many members of the Parliament are Scottish Environment LINK species champions for iconic or threatened animals and plants. I had a meeting with the Woodland Trust last week, at which I was told about all the fantastic work that Joan McAlpine has done. The trust claimed that she is the best species champion—of course, I personally took issue with that, but we will let it slide for now.
I did not realise initially that the trees are called “granny pines”, as Joan McAlpine said, but they are immediately recognisable to people who are familiar with the Scottish Highlands. However, they may not be as well known as some of the iconic species for which they provide both a home and protection, so I am delighted to have had this debate today in order to recognise their value and to explore opportunities for their further enhancement and restoration
These pines create a rich habitat that is internationally recognised. As well as a providing a home for common plants such as bell heather and blaeberry, other internationally scarce flowers grow alongside them, including the twinflower. I did not realise that Bill Bowman is the species champion for that flower which, as he said, is the emblem of Scotland’s ancient Caledonian forests. Rare and important animals live alongside them, too, such as the red squirrel, which Gail Ross mentioned, and invertebrates such as the Scottish wood ant and the highly endangered pine hoverfly.
We should not forget the remarkable cultural and tourism importance of the forests. They attract visitors from far afield, who come to enjoy the ancient green scenery of places such as Glen Affric, Abernethy and Rothiemurchus, and the incredible wildlife that we have there. That beauty has been brought to many across the world through films, and through television programmes that have been dedicated to it, depicting the Scottish Highland scenery and wildlife in all its true drama.
Unfortunately, as we have heard, there are threats to the future health of these iconic forests. Joan McAlpine discussed them in her opening remarks; they include browsing pressure, climate change and invasive non-native plants. However, there is good news. Actions are being undertaken by the Government, public bodies, our partners, non-governmental organisations, communities and businesses to protect and improve the condition of the habitat. That work is effective only with strong collaboration, co-ordinated effort and long-term commitment from all of us, and I am glad that today’s debate has shown how much of that is happening.
Joan McAlpine talked about the positive work that is being done by the Trees for Life and Woodland Trust partnership project. I am glad that they could join us for the debate and I add my congratulations to those from Gail Ross for their recent funding award. I am pleased to hear that their project includes action on the ground and work to better understand these precious forests. We must have both if we are to succeed in protecting that unique woodland for the future.
The Government is also a keen and active partner in work in the pinewoods. Through Forest Enterprise Scotland, we are supporting an ambitious programme of conservation work to restore all the 22 remnants of native pinewoods on the national forest estate, which has been under way since the early 1990s. That is clearly a long-term project; it involves bringing the iconic woods of Glen Affric, Black Wood of Rannoch and Glenmore back to thriving healthy woodland communities and creating the conditions to allow them to regenerate and expand. With the completion of the devolution of forestry, the Scottish ministers will be leaders in sustainable forest management and sustainable development through their stewardship of those assets—so, no pressure there!
Through our national parks, we are also leading conservation work for a number of pinewoods, including Glen Falloch in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park, which is the most southerly of our pinewood remnants. I am particularly pleased to hear about the positive conversations being had there to encourage owners to produce long-term management plans to bring those sites into good condition. Also, of course, the Cairngorms national park famously contains some of the best remnants of Caledonian pinewoods in Scotland, such as Mar Lodge, Abernethy, Glenmore and Rothiemurchus. All of those are enthusiastically supported by the Cairngorms National Park Authority.
I also welcome the great innovations coming from others that we have heard about today. The Cairngorms Connect partnership of four adjoining public and charity land managers—RSPB Scotland, Wildland Limited, Forestry Enterprise Scotland, and Scottish Natural Heritage—announced the successful award of a grant of approximately £3.75 million from the endangered landscapes programme. That grant will fund the biggest habitat restoration project in the UK, encompassing 600km2 of land. The partnership will work on restoration projects across the landscape, including expanding and restoring Caledonian pinewoods to their natural limit at 1,000m above sea level.
The physical work on the ground is vital, but it needs to be underpinned by good information, as Edward Mountain mentioned in his contribution. The public investment in the native woodland survey of Scotland, which was published by Forestry Commission Scotland in 2014, is particularly valuable. The survey recorded that a high level of grazing by herbivores is the main contributor to the poor ecological condition of many native woodland habitats, including the Caledonian pinewoods.
Of course, there are other threats and challenges. I was sorry to hear about the issue that Edward Mountain had when he was trying to do his bit for Caledonian pine forest restoration. As far as I am aware, that is not as much of an issue any more.
One particular issue in the Scottish Government’s biodiversity route map to 2020, and one of the areas that we have focused effort on, is the reduction of browsing pressure. Grant support is available under the current rural development programme for action to reduce browsing impacts and encourage regeneration on designated remnant Caledonian pinewood sites, which demonstrates our commitment to protecting and improving these important habitats in Scotland.
We are also supporting work to identify and address threats from long-term climate change-induced pressures, which Gillian Martin emphasised in her remarks. That research suggests that the potential for future loss of biodiversity and species is high, and that the smaller and more isolated the woodland, the more vulnerable it is to those losses. As Gillian Martin and Claudia Beamish said, even these small areas of woodland are very important. That is why we are helping the forests to adapt to future changes through actions that will encourage regeneration and expansion, and thereby build greater resilience and adaptability.
All of that work is part of the Scottish Government's prioritised plan for meeting the international targets in our route map to 2020. We have taken an ecosystem approach that focuses on the need to protect ecosystems in order to support nature, including Scotland’s native woodlands, and to support our own wellbeing and a thriving economy.
I very much welcome the attention that has been given to these important habitats and the efforts of the public, private and third sectors to secure them for the future. I support Joan McAlpine’s motion, which recognises the importance of this woodland, the threats that it faces and the work and passion of all those involved in its conservation.
Meeting closed at 18:02.