🌳 Scotland’s forests are the largest they’ve been in 900 years. https://www.newstatesman.com/chart-of-the-day/2022/04/scotlands-forests-are-the-largest-they-have-been-for-900-years
[disclaimer: have not read the article]
@thesunshinesushi Ah, it finally pays off to kill the trees _else_where!
@thesunshinesushi This is good news and I hope it continues. I'd guess the most of this is still Sitka Spruce monocultures, that will regularly be clear-felled. I've spoken to foresters who are moving to a more mixed canopy and selective felling though, and that will take time to grow.
@jambamkin I think the article confirms just what you're saying here - it was a lot of spruce when it started, but now they are focusing more on native trees, although there is still a lot of controversy and potentially they aren't getting it totally right (in some knowledgable people's opinions; I'm not knowledgeable)
@thesunshinesushi the, sadder aspect, is this is out of the SNP...
'harvest..the potential', soon those trees will come down
https://nitter.spaceint.fr/fr4ser/status/1517550861265813504
@athairbirb yeah that's lame. I'm mindful of sharing interesting facts with little context that are in an area of the world that I don't know the nuance. But I have read some awesome stuff about small communities focusing on rewilding - hopefully that's happening alongside the monoculture tree situation.
@thesunshinesushi
NOT GOOD NEWS!
This will be due almost entirely to commercial, monoculture plantations, mostly Sitka spruce.
@fitheach if I read the article correctly they say that it was initially fast growing pine/spruce, but they have stopped planting that & are are focusing on more native trees. It doesn't sound like it's just monoculture for harvest, but I am sure a lot of it is. Maybe it's better than the alternative, which is no trees?
@thesunshinesushi
Any suggestion that they have stopped planting spruce is patent nonsense. The usual technique is 99% Sitka, with some deciduous and larch around the margins, to hide the monoculture.
No trees would be preferable to the nature-free monocultures the commercial forests produce.
@thesunshinesushi Oooooooooo nice