SCOTLAND'S newly created national tree, the Scots Pine, is under siege from the threats of climate change, severe weather, over-grazing and disease, according to conservationists.
The charity Trees for Life is warning that higher priority must be given urgently to the conservation of Scotland's pinewoods.
Executive director Alan Watson Featherstone said this winter's severe storms had highlighted the vulnerability of even well-established Scots Pines to extreme weather, something that was likely to increase with climate change. There was also a lack of young trees to replace mature specimens when lost.
He said that while declaring the Scots Pine as a national symbol sent a signal to the world that Scotland valued its trees as an important part of its culture and identity, alarm bells were ringing for its future.
"We owe it to future generations to ensure its long-term survival by being world leaders in reforestation," he said.
During the powerful storm that struck north Scotland in early December, several giant Scots Pines at Trees for Life's Dundreggan Conservation Estate near Loch Ness were uprooted and blown over, and others badly damaged, he said.
Some of these were probably more than 200 years old. Ancient pines were also lost in the Glen Affric National Nature Reserve.
Trees for Life said that while others would grow, it would be at least 200 years before they would be comparable to those lost.It added: "In a healthy forest ecosystem, deer numbers would be in balance with regenerating trees but imbalances in the Highlands landscape have created a 200-year generation gap for Scots pines. Until fencing and conservation-oriented deer culling began in the past two decades, there were no trees younger than 150 years in most locations."
Another potential threat is Dothistroma Needle Blight, which normally affects Lodgepole and Corsican Pine in Scotland. The Scots Pine was believed to have low susceptibility to the disease. However the Forestry Commission had noted an increase in the distribution and severity of the disease on Scots Pine, particularly in Scotland.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article