Warroch Hill, near Milnathort in Kinross-shire has won the coveted James Jones Trophy for the best new commercial woodland planting in Scotland
As part of Scotland's Finest Woods Awards. Owned by The Church Commissioners for England and managed by UPM Tilhill, the scheme attracted praise from the judges who were extremely impressed by the planning and implementation of this large commercial planting. In particular, the extent to which concerns about potential diffuse pollution in a very sensitive catchment have been addressed, was highly commended. The need for other conifers to be established as part of the development has been taken seriously, particularly with regard to Norway spruce and the planning of current and future maintenance, including deer control, has been well thought through. Roading is designed for lorries equipped with Tyre Pressure Control systems reducing road damage and CO2 emissions. The judges felt that the establishing forest will provide a significant and high quality contribution to the timber resource in the area and is a worthy winner of the James Jones Trophy.
Pictured above: David Leslie of James Jones & Sons, Chris West of The Church Commissioners for England and his daughter Sophie West, Graham Carter of Aitchesse Ltd and Bruce Spalding of UPM Tilhill.
David Leslie, General Manager for Harvesting, Co-Products and Transport at James Jones & Sons Ltd. commented:
“The Warroch Hill planting scheme is an excellent example of a commercial forestry scheme and exactly the type of scheme that we would wish to see win the James Jones Trophy for the best new commercial woodland in Scotland. The scheme shows the ability to maximise viable commercial species whilst complying with current forestry, environment and landscape standards, and it is the development of such forests that is so necessary to offset the reduction in commercial forest area we are seeing in Scotland. Congratulations to the Church Commissioners and to Aitchesse as the worthy winners of our award this year.
We were also delighted to see the Scottish Woodlands managed Whitehillshiel forest receiving a judges commendation this year. This scheme is also a good example of the ability to create new forests that will be a necessary source of timber, a valuable asset, a significant carbon sink, and a good forest habitat for the future.”