Ali highlights future timber supply crisis
A Scottish Woodlands Forest Manger has highlighted the future timber supply crisis after a study tour in North-east England.
Ali McTavish, based in the Melrose office, joined the tour organised by the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF) to the mighty Kielder Forest in Northumberland and James Jones & Sons sawmill in Durham.
Afterwards, the ICF’s Director of Membership Engagement, Jo Fox-Evans, asked her what she took away from the tour.
Ali replied: “We need a second Kielder, and the timber shortage is just not getting any better. There is a future deficit in timber supply; we need to bridge that gap and there’s no better time to do that than now.”
Ali also said she would ensure she returned to the office with a focus on talking about “how great forestry is”.
Kielder Forest is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its 250 square miles (650 km2) covered by forest. It was initially planted in the 1920s and 1930s to address the timber crisis after the First World War and has developed into a major tourist attraction, while still supplying significant quantities of timber to the market.
James Jones & Sons, which owns 20% of Scottish Woodlands, Ltd, has invested heavily in the former TaylorMade plant in Durham, which it acquired in 2021.
The plant has been modernised very significantly since then, and its product range includes fencing, pallet boards, and components for manufacturing panels.