THE Forestry Commission has enraged conservationists by backing a plan to
plant trees on 231 hectares of moorland on the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland.
The land is considered a 鈥渧ital feeding ground鈥� for the area鈥檚 last surviving
pair of golden eagles, which along with their habitats qualify for the highest
level of protection under the European Union鈥檚 Birds Directive.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and other groups are
particularly concerned because the decision was made in the light of a new
standard for forestry published by the commission last month. The standard lays
down guidelines for how forests should be sustainably managed in Britain. But
although it recognises the EU鈥檚 Birds and Habitats Directives where they apply
to species at specifically designated sites, the protection of birds elsewhere
receives only a one-line mention.
鈥淭his is a classic example of how Forestry Commission guidelines and
standards are failing to deliver sustainable forestry in line with Britain鈥檚
international obligations,鈥� says Roger Turner of the RSPB. The group is
preparing a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice should the
government give the plantation its approval.
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Lord Sewel, forestry and environment minister for Scotland, will decide soon
whether the plantation should go ahead. Scottish Natural Heritage strongly
opposes it, and a spokesman says the agency has reminded Sewel of 鈥渢he
government鈥檚 obligations under the Birds Directive鈥�.
As well as the Birds and Habitats Directives, Britain has also endorsed the
1993 Helsinki Guidelines on sustainable forest management. These stress that the
planting of forests should 鈥渘ot negatively affect ecologically interesting or
noteworthy sites鈥�.
The Forestry Commission says that the 鈥減ossible loss of the eagles was not
regarded as detrimental to the Scottish population as a whole鈥�.