BWFF: Scotland's Missing Forests

Part of the Third Annual Birks Wilderness Film Festival.

Scotland's Missing Forests: The Great Eco-Conspiracy
Is Scotland a barren wasteland?

The Highland A9 corridor certainly looks that way flanked by miles of bleak, treeless, uninhabited bog. It’s easy to conclude nothing could ever grow here. Easier still to conclude millionaire ‘sporting’ landowners have done Scots a big favour by taking this hopeless land off our collective hands.

Easy but wrong.

Broad-leaved trees thrive almost anywhere sheep, deer and muirburn (controlled burning) are excluded.

But with a few honourable exceptions – big landowners choose not to do that. And the Scottish Government looks the other way.

The proof is the A9 above Blair Atholl. Between the usual barren-looking heather heathland there’s a thick, verdant mixed woodland in the central reservation – because deer won’t cross the busy dual carriageway.

Enter Ron Greer.

I first encountered this tenacious, obsessive DIY ecologist fifteen years ago on one of his ‘Lupin Patrols’ - Ron was single-handedly spreading Arctic Lupin seeds on eroding gullies to help fix bare slopes. The authorities were not amused.

But Ron didn’t give a toss.

He had long experience of being right when all the ‘experts’ were wrong.

The evidence lies on the barren wastelands of Loch Garry by Dalnaspidal where Ron and fellow conservationist Derek Pretswell grew a broad leaf forest from scratch, in a sub-arctic winter climate on sterile-looking land that resembled a golf bunker.

How was it done? That's what this film is all about. Filmed by Killiecrankie resident Steve Rawson with Ron Greer, Derek Pretswell and Lesley Riddoch.

Steve Rawson, Ron Greer, and Derek Pretswell will be joining us for a discussion after the film.