In the last newsletter I wrote about the vulnerability of large parts of the Ochils, especially in the Perth and Kinross council area, because large areas that contribute to the character of the hills lack the protection of an official designation. Official designations are reserved for special places. Much of the Ochils is not seen as special in official eyes, and that makes them vulnerable to the spread of industrial land uses.
Make no mistake, windfarms and commercial forestry are industrial enterprises. Their sweeping impact on the landscape and the vehicle access they require are on a different plane to the more general run of rural economic activities.
The Woodland Trust's activities to the west of Glen Devon also represent a major landscape change, although a rather more benign one since vehicle access is minimal and the whole enterprise is being conducted more sympathetically to the landscape. Nonetheless, once work at their Glen Sherup property and at Geordie's Wood is completed, the landscape from Muckhart to the Frandy Burn will have changed, within a decade, from a mix of open and commercially forested ground to being largely tree-covered.
There is now the very real prospect of windfarms - windfarms plural, note - from Glen Devon / Glen Eagles to Glen Farg. This is all high and windy ground, is near to power lines and the market for Central Belt electricity, and is all designated by Scottish Natural Heritage as of the "lowest natural heritage sensitivity".
In earlier years FotO considered several times what the geographical extent of its interest should be. Where do the Ochils end? It's fairly easy to define where the hills end at the west and to south and north, but to the east it's much more difficult. Pragmatically, we have often used the Glen Farg/M90 line.
The part of the hills least vulnerable to industrial intrusion is the core area of Ben Cleuch and the southern escarpment. Not only does this have protective designations, it also has a high public profile (no pun intended). It is the more gentle eastern end that is under most threat. Already fragmented by commercial forestry, it is now under threat from windfarms and at risk of becoming a primarily industrial landscape. And if that happens, another piece of what gives the wider Ochils their character will have gone: sliced like salami until, too late, it's realised that what's left - a small protected core - will have lost much of its value because the landscapes around it, in which it is set, have become industrialised.
The Woodland Trust Scotland (WTS) has been continuing to plan the development of this new native woodland which we outlined in the last newsletter. They hope to acquire the land before the end of this year, and a Woodland Grant Scheme application will be submitted before Christmas. This will include an environmental impact statement and be the trigger for formal consultation. The Friends of the Ochils will respond formally to this consultation, and it is likely that our response will accept the plans for this specific site but express concern that there should now be no further "bare hill" schemes until the existing schemes are well established and their impact can be properly judged. We understand that the proposal has the support of local residents, with whom WTS has been liaising closely - an important point in its favour.
Assuming that the land is acquired successfully, the Woodland Grant Scheme application approved and sufficient funding raised, it is anticipated that planting would start at the north end, to the south of Glen Quey, in spring 2005. Work would be phased over several years, ending with the fields adjacent to Muckhart in, perhaps, 2008.