Forestry

forestry “Why oh why” are timber prices so high?

By Marcus Goodyear

Gazing out of our windows, taking a walk down the street, though we may not appreciate them quite as much as we should, many of us are lucky enough to be able to see trees. Trees are all around us in fact and there doesn’t appear to be any immediate shortage. And yet the timber market is currently experiencing a scarcity of this ubiquitous resource, with demand for wood far outpacing supply. Because of this imbalance, prices of timber are soaring. With the help of Douglas Mathison, forestry expert and owner of forestry management firm Agriforest, we unpick what could have caused this demand for timber.

You would be hard pressed not to have heard about Covid-19 by this point in time - its effects have been grim and far reaching. But could the Coronavirus have caused this timber imbalance?

With the pandemic and near worldwide quarantine shutting down the construction industry last year, demand for timber was expected to decrease. However, this was not the case, demand did not decrease. Douglas theorises “if anything the need for timber increased! Think of all those lockdown DIY projects and restaurants building entire outdoor seating areas”. Also owing to the pandemic, many sawmills and timber harvesting sites were forced to close, creating issues with timber supply.

Douglas comments “Due to many sawmills being shut Agriforest had to close down a number of our harvesting sites, and some of our planting sites were also postponed. This might have caused some of the problems we are now seeing with timber supply. The main issue here however is not supply, but demand.”

It has been widely accepted that natural building materials like timber are more environmentally friendly than say, a concrete counterpart. With environmental concerns at the forefront of people’s minds, they are turning to timber as a more climate-conscious building material. In fact, eighty per cent of new-build housing in Scotland uses timber framing. With the building of new housing increasing in Scotland year on year, even before the pandemic, this could explain the increase in demand for timber.

Douglas says “People generally seem to be searching for climate friendly building materials. Timber would appear to be the answer, as with proper woodland management timber can be a truly sustainable resource.”

To those of you who may be needing well priced timber in the coming year: “don’t despair yet!”. Douglas predicts these issues with supply and demand will eventually settle down: “as the vaccine continues to roll out, the effects of Covid are further in the rear-view mirror, and supply of timber increases in line with demand, things should start to equalise.” Because of this he says “now is the time to act! Anybody looking to make money from timber right now is very well placed to do so. Many farmers and estate owners are unaware that they could be making profit from their underutilised woodland”.

With timber prices at record levels, it’s hardly surprising a lot

of landowners are looking harder at assets they have. Agriforest specialises in managing small to medium sized farm and estate woodlands. From an initial free site appraisal anywhere in Scotland and the north of England, through to the felling of timber, preparing for restocking, and subsequent maintenance thereafter, the business is well placed to give an entirely client focused service from start to finish. To find out more about them you can visit their website – www.agriforest.co.uk.

Scotland showing leadership on climate forests

Scotland’s ambitious woodland creation targets, which will see 36 million new trees planted each year, are key to tackling climate change and nature loss, says Environment Minister Màiri McAllan.

Speaking ahead of COP26’s Glasgow Declaration of Forests and Land Use (on 2 November), Ms McAllan highlighted that in the UK, 80% of all new tree planting takes place in Scotland.

Scotland has raised the bar on tackling climate change through tree planting by increasing its yearly targets from 12,000 hectares to 18,000 hectares of new woodland each year by 2024/5.

Ms McAllan said that Scotland now stands ready to share its forestry success story with world leaders visiting Glasgow. She said: “Climate change and nature loss are the greatest global threats we face. We can and must start to reverse these threats. Planting more trees, and sustainably managing our forests is one part of the global solution. “By planting the right trees in the right place, we can soak up more emissions, whilst also providing a boost to our environment, our economy, and the lives of people.

“As we welcome world leaders to Scotland, we extend an open invitation to share our success story so that other nations can grow and protect their own forests and woodlands.”

The Scottish achievements in tree planting have largely been achieved by working closely with the forest industries and woodland owners, both large and small.

The Scottish Government is also pumping £150 million into meeting Scotland’s enhanced planting targets and ensuring there is capacity in tree nurseries.

Scotland’s forests are an important part of the country’s climate change ambitions as they absorb around 6.2 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to almost 10% of Scotland’s gross GHG emissions.

Tree Nursery marks 90th anniversary and prepares for future climate challenges

Forestry & Land Scotland’s (FLS) Newton Nursery marks its 90th anniversary this year and will double in size, boosting overall capacity within Scotland’s tree nursery sector which is essential to delivering Scotland’s Climate Emergency response.

Newton nursery currently grows seven million of the 25 million trees that FLS plants in Scotland each year.

By leasing a further 70 hectares of land - and with financial support from Scottish Government – to deliver the biggest, single infrastructure investment ever by FLS, Newton nursery will effectively double capacity by 2025, allowing it to produce around 14 million trees a year.

The expansion will provide more trees to support Scotland’s ambitious tree planting targets while also providing FLS with greater self-sufficiency.

This will include the growing of well-known conifer species such as Lodgepole pine, Scots pine, Sitka and Norway spruce alongside a move towards a greater use of other alternative conifer and broadleaf species to provide greater diversity and build resilience.

The stock produced will be planted out into existing forests all over Scotland as older trees are felled and to create new forests of the future, for people to enjoy.

Set up in 1931 near Elgin to grow trees for what was the Forestry Commission, Newton is now the only public state-managed tree nursery in Scotland and employs 24 people locally.

Over its 90 years, the nursery has helped to improve and refine Scotland’s tree stocks.

Most of the seeds used at Newton are sourced from the FLS managed estate.

Seeds are harvested from specially selected stands or from seed orchards created for superior form, straightness