We have been working towards bringing Cruachan woodland- an area of approx 8 hectares in Orbost, and Cnoc nan Craobh, or Bluebell hill, into community ownership, from the point of view of dividing Cruachan woodland into 2 woodland crofts, and maintaining Cnoc nan Craobh as an area of local recreational importance.
We commissioned a feasibility study into the project and a business plan (link above) which recommended that DCT requests an asset transfer of the land from HIE for £18,000, a discount of £17,000 from the market valuation of £35,000 – on the basis that HIE perform an arboricultural survey on roadside mature ash trees suspected of Chalara die-back infection, and act on the recommendations. At the recent AGM in November, we held a vote on whether to pursue an asset transfer on that basis/adjust the discount to reflect the costs of acting on the recommendations of an arboricultural survey, and it was unanimously in favour of proceeding. HIE declined to perform the survey prior to sale, so we commissioned the survey with a well qualified and respected Arboriculturalist ourselves at the end of 2024. The findings of the Arboricultural survey (link below) show 45 mature ash and sycamore along the road within the boundary of Cruachan woodland and Cnoc nan Craobh which are either dead or dying, with the recommendation that they are cut to ground level ASAP.
This obviously won’t be a small job, and it will really alter the landscape and environment of a beautiful place we love, and which is home to some of our members – it will undoubtedly cause some disruption. DCT don’t own the land (yet) so for the time being this isn’t our ‘responsibility’ as such, but as we are pursuing an asset transfer we need to plan for the future and the actions we will need to take to ensure we’re acting in the best interest of the community, and that we can manage the work in a responsible way.
Felling infected ash is expensive, it requires expertise to be carried out safely, and as the trees are roadside, it would probably require road closures. We are seeking advice from various sources including the Woodland Trust and Forestry Scotland, as well as people in the community with expertise and local knowledge. If the trees are felled, the area would need to be replanted with native broadleaves and protected from browsing herbivores. We are also looking into potential local benefit from the felled timber itself- there would be a substantial amount suitable for firewood, but also potential to have some wood planked and used for woodworking workshops and training, or sold to contribute to the associated costs.
In light of this, we have submitted an asset transfer request to HIE offering £1000 for the land (as opposed to the market valuation of £40000). We think this is fair considering the social value the project will bring, and the extra expense that we will be responsible for, at least partially as a result of a lack of woodland management at Cruachan over a long period of time. If this goes through, we would develop a small scale woodland management plan for the area, which would include re-planting a mixture of native broadleaves. It has been suggested that we include some more mature trees in the replanting, including perhaps slower growing trees like oak .
Please be assured, we’re seeking the best advice we can, and we don’t take any of these measures lightly! If you have any comments or queries please don’t hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].
We did only commission the survey for the roadside trees on the land we are hoping to acquire for community ownership – If you are concerned about any roadside trees on land owned by HIE and not part of this acquisition please contact us at [email protected] or HIE at [email protected].
