Planned forestry works in Walkerburn

Many people have taken to social media to debate the forestry plans for Walkerburn. The plan, by Forestry and Land Scotland proposes to work on 3543 hectares of land between Elibank, Traquair, Caberston and Tornilee forests.

The plan wants to bring together some separate woodlands while also working on two new woodland creations.

The forests would bring about new natural habitats for local wildlife while also proving the public with multi-benefit and multi-purpose forest areas to explore.

Due to the effect of climate change, Scotland is working hard to recreate forests and woodlands and you can learn more about the work in 2019-2020 here. Scotland is seeing an increase in broadleaf and Sitka planting as many farmers are able to get government funding to help with the costs of Agroforestry.

The planned planting in Walkerburn would give wildlife a larger area of habitation and would also sequester carbon, which is very important with the way the planet is heating at the moment. Carbon in the air traps heat on the planet and causes it to warm further. Trees are an alternative place for carbon to live and therefore prevent further warming of the planet.

Although we may be biased, we think it is a good opportunity to give more work to local businesses. That not only helps planters like ourselves, but it provides land management companies with work, fencers, mounders, tree fellers and not to mention that having these people working in Walkerburn would give the cafe and Premier shop a bit of a boost while the work was being carried out.