Whether Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland have published plans to mitigate any impacts of the larch removal policy to contro…

Scottish Forestry (SF) have published “Advice on replanting sites affected by “Phytopthora ramorum”. This includes guidance on the range of different species that the owner can match to their site conditions and constraints. This gives individual owners options to help match the objectives and requirements of a site to suitable tree species.Any felling should adhere to the requirements of the United Kingdom Forestry Standard (UKFS) and existing environmental regulation. Legislation relating to plant health matters does not override other legislative requirements – and vice versa. The Phytopthora ramorum on larch action plan also emphasises that exemptions to SPHN deadlines may be required where there are conflicts between legislation or other key principles of sustainable forest management (SFM) for example breeding seasons. Decisions on these will be taken on a case by case basis and are at the discretion of SF Conservancies.Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) have not published specific plans to mitigate any impacts of the larch removal policy on Scotland’s National Forests and Land. FLS do consider the implications of impacts when deciding when and how to replant sites to meet objectives and requirements, and these are published in the separate Land Management Plans and associated documents submitted to SF. Land Management Plans are produced collaboratively by local planning and environment teams and balance multiple objectives. Plans consider raptor and red squirrel populations where present, and where larch removal is a major objective, generally aim to retain as much other mature conifer as reasonably practicable, considering all plan objectives in the round.