Carrick Estate in Cowal, managed by Tilhill Forestry, has won the prestigeous James Jones Trophy for Best New Commercial Planting, presented at the SFWA awards ceremony at the Royal Highland Show.
Commenting on the entry, the judges said:
"This scheme presented substantial conservation challenges over and above its presence in the national park. The fundamental research and survey work carried out as part of the environmental assessment process will certainly benefit future similarly sensitive forestry proposals. The extent of native woodland establishment and designed open space within the plantation will ensure long term conservation benefits while the extensive areas of Sitka spruce will provide a valuable commercial resource for the future.
The potential to export timber from the site by sea is already being demonstrated as timber from existing adjacent plantations is being shipped to the South West.
This is a well-designed scheme which shows the ability of the design process to accommodate significant environmental interests within an extensive commercial forest.
Given the scale, quality of design and implementation and the success of the iterative environmental assessment process we recommend that Carrick Estate is awarded the James Jones trophy for new commercial woodlands."
David Leslie, Director of Harvesting & Operations for James Jones & Sons commented that:
"I'm delighted to see another good commercial spruce scheme winning the award from a strong field of entries. The winner typifies exactly the type of project that we support the award for, and that is needed to move us towards the Scottish Government's target of 6000 hectares of commercial planting per annum. Congratulations to Tilhill once again and thank you to all those who entered and received commendations for such worthwhile applications"