A project that has seen more than a million native trees planted on crofts in the last five years aims to double its success.
Nearly 300 crofters have created woodlands with help from the Croft Woodland Project which has now been extended for another five years.
The scheme is a partnership involving Woodland Trust Scotland, Scottish Crofting Federation, Point and Sandwick Trust, Scottish Forestry, Coigach and Assynt Living Landscapes, Argyll Small Woods Coop, Orkney Woodland Project, Shetland Amenity Trust and the Communities Housing Trust.
It provides advice, training and educational resources to crofters, smallholders and common grazings committees.
In its first five years it has helped bring more than 2471 acres of woodland into sustainable management. Plans for phase two project to 2025 include planting two million more native trees.
Bill Ritchie, who chaired the scheme’s advisory group in the first five-year phase, said: “Crofters benefit from increased shelter for animals and in some cases their homes, increased biodiversity on the croft, and some mitigation for the carbon dioxide emissions from crofting activity. It has been a win-win situation for everyone involved.”
Donald John MacSween is chairing the advisory group for the second phase, running to 2025. He said: “The project has been a huge success in every crofting area, and it is great that it has now been extended for another five years.”
Until the 1991 Crofter Forestry Act, woodland ownership and management rights were reserved for landowners, not their crofting tenants.
“When we started out, planting on crofts had reached a low point,” said Eleanor Garty, of Woodland Trust Scotland, who will hand over management of the team to Argyll and Lochaber advisor Iona Hyde.
“After the Crofter Forestry Act there was a flurry of woodland creation, but by 2015 it was clear that extra support was needed to help crofters overcome the financial and technical challenges of establishing trees in what are often very harsh conditions.”
Iona Hyde said: “Thanks to the project there is now a tradition of woodland creation and management beginning to take shape across the crofting counties. Knowledge and skills are growing with it. Society is increasingly realising we need more woodland to fight back against climate change and biodiversity loss.
“Crofters are a million trees ahead of the game and we hope to see twice that again in our second phase.”
John Risby, Scottish Forestry’s Highlands and Islands conservator, said crofting provides significant opportunities for more tree planting across the region.
“To reach the Scottish Government target for woodland expansion we need everyone to participate, small woods are just as important as large ones, and ensure they can access the grant funding available across Scotland.
“Recognising some of the challenges, we have a specific woodland creation option for the Northern and Western Isles and have recently made this available throughout the crofting counties. We are delighted that Woodland Trust will lead the partners in a further five years of the croft woodlands project.”