Loch Arkaig Pine Forest

shared ownership, community ownership, advisory board

5% of Loch Arkaig Pine Forest is owned by the community, and 95% by the Woodland Trust but the whole area is managed in partnership with the objective to restore native woodlands and support local livelihoods.

Growing community capacity through a partnership approach

The Loch Arkaig Pine Forest is situated on the South shore of Loch Arkaig. It covers over 1000 hectares of what would have been primarily Caledonian pinewood, but which was felled over several centuries and replanted with non-native conifers in the 1960s. From 1966, the forest was managed by the Forestry Commission, now named Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS). In 2013, commercial forestry on the land was not considered to be viable any longer and FLS invited expressions of interest from community groups to purchase two blocks of forest under the National Forest Land Scheme. The community considered the benefits of managing the area for the purpose of restoration and conservation and community benefit. It set up Arkaig Community Forest; a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) which was able to register an interest. Yet, the community was small – only about 40 households at the time. Capacity and resources were an issue, and the community considered joining forces with a larger environmental NGO to acquire and manage the land. In 2016, a partnership between the community and the Woodland Trust was born.

Joint management of a forest owned partly by the Trust and partly by the community

To comply with the requirements of the National Forest Land Scheme, all of the land had to be bought by the community. The Woodland Trust agreed to provide financial resources to the community to buy 100% of the land in the understanding that 95% of the forest would be sold back to the Trust immediately after, for zero financial gain. A legally binding contract was agreed before funds were transferred between partners.

Although 5% of the land is owned by the community organisation (Arkaig Community Forest), and 95% of the land is owned by the Woodland Trust, the entire area is managed in partnership. The partnership is supported by an Advisory Board with representatives of the Woodland Trust, Arkaig Community Forest and such other stakeholders and independent representatives as the Board shall decide. The board advises on management of the forest and on how to manage relations and open communication with partners. If a situation requires it, the board could also mediate/arbitrate between partners, but this has so far not been necessary.  

The partnership is underpinned by a clear purpose. It is set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the forest shall be restored to native woodland and that the partnership seeks to optimise sustainable use of the forest to support local livelihoods and community-based enterprises. Partners manage the forest in an open and transparent way and income and expenditure accounts are made available to the board on a regular basis. The MOU also sets out that if a partner wishes to sell all or part of the forest or grant a lease for more than 10% of the area, the other partner has pre-emptive rights. This may help to future-proof inclusive governance of the area and the achievement of long-term nature restoration and community objectives.

Community voices are integrated through Arkaig Community Forest as a community body that serves the interests of the community as a whole. Board trustees have and will go out to people in the community to discuss plans that directly impact on them, and formal consultation and meetings have and will take place on new management plans.

“It takes time. You have to listen to people, and you have to find a compromise on what will work for the forest, for sustainable community development, and for individuals in the community.” – Angela Mercer, Trustee of Arkaig Community Forest

In 2021, the community expanded its ownership when it bought a further 6ha of woodland, a forest school and other buildings from Forestry and Land Scotland. This new area is close to where most of the community lives. The forest school provides office space which is partly rented by Woodland Trust staff. Furthermore, a deer larder and tree nursery were constructed which has led to further community influence over forest management across the whole Loch Arkaig Pine Forest area.  

“The Woodland Trust supports the tree nursery; it uses it trees and it helps foster relations with other landowners. The community is not just receiving cash for the sale of trees. They are leading on decisions on what trees are being made available and planted and how local provenance works – decisions you would normally expect environmental NGOs or statutory organisations to be leading on” – Henry Dobson, Woodland Trust

Building capacity and confidence and creating new partnerships

The partnership at Loch Arkaig Pine Forest is steadily working towards its environmental objectives. In addition, the shared ownership model in Loch Arkaig Pine Forest has created community capacity and confidence, leading to more community-owned land/projects. The community-owned tree nursery and deer larder are sustaining a small team of paid staff at 2.8 FTE, thereby contributing to local employment. The forest offers a variety of volunteering, training and education opportunities, and funds are currently being sought to build a new community hub and forest training centre, using sustainable native timber, to further community outreach. The partnership is also facilitating new partnerships, as Arkaig Community Forest and the Woodland Trust are now teaming up with adjacent private and public landowners to undertake an ambitious land-scape scale collaboration project to regenerate and reconnect the ancient Caledonian forest in the wider area.

Source:

• Landlinks webinar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAdw2-ZJu9c&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.landcommission.gov.scot%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE
• https://arkaig.org/
• https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/woods/loch-arkaig-pine-forest/