Research at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs

Overview

Current and and historical research trials include:

• • Climate change mitigation

• • Forest hydrology

• • Forest restoration

• • Forest soils: carbon balance, nutrients and atmospheric pollutants

• • Peatland restoration, bogs and woodlands

• • Remote sensing

• • Silviculture: the cultivation and care of woodlands

• • Tree species, provenance and improvement trials

Climate Change Mitigation

Scotland’s Climate-Ready Forest Network

A partnership between Scottish Forestry, FR, the Scottish Government’s ClimateXChange centre of expertise and private sector collaborators, this project has created the first climate-change adaptation site at Queen Elizabeth Forest Park.

The project has created demonstration sites and will seek to identify GHG mitigation benefits from different types of woodland expansion and help to determine where and how woodland expansion contribute to GHG mitigation, including associated changes in soil carbon stocks.

Findings from the project will help to provide objective and independent evidence and advice to support ministers in developing adaptation policies to make Scottish forestry more resilient to climatic changes, and to support the transition to a lower-carbon society.

Outputs

Scotland’s Climate Ready Forest Network (FR project page)

ClimateXChange Centre of Expertise (Scottish Government page)

The Forest Research Climate Change Hub (extensive online resources)

ClimateXChange (FR research page)

Climate-ready forestry at Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. Forest Research Case Study 1 (supporting Atkinson, 2022)

Adapting Scotland’s forests for resilience to climate change (FR research page)

Climate change in Scotland (FR research page)

Climate-ready forestry at Queen Elizabeth Forest Park (FR case study)

Climate Change Adaptation (FR research page)

Forest Management Adaptation (FR research page)

Atkinson (2022). Adapting forest and woodland management to the changing climate. UK Forestry Standard Practice Guide

Locatelli et al. (2021). Drought risk in Scottish forests. ClimateXChange Project Report

Lawrence (2020). Diversifying conifers in productive forests: stakeholders’ perspectives. ClimateXChange Project Report

Moffat et al. (2013). Demonstrating adaptation. Lessons learned so far in the forestry sector. ClimateXChange Project Report

Green & Ray (2009). Potential impacts of drought and disease on forestry in Scotland. FC Research Note 004

Ray (2008). Impacts of climate change on forestry in Scotland – a synopsis of spatial modelling research. FC Scotland Research Note 101

Broadmeadow et al. (2005). Climate change and the future for broadleaved tree species in Britain. Forestry, vol.78, pages 145–161

Broadmeadow & Ray (2005). Climate Change and British Woodland. FC Information Note 069

Broadmeadow (2002). Climate change: impacts on UK forests. Forestry Commission Bulletin 125

Forest Hydrology

Natural Flood Management

Now a part of the SUPERB Demonstration Area (see below), The Strathard Project: A Landscape to live, work and play, has helped to developed more sustainable and resilient management plans for the water and land in Strathard by taking an ecosystems approach that considered the wider impacts and benefits of a range of management plans on ecosystem services, the landscape and communities.

FR continues to work with Forestry and Land Scotland’s Central Region to help lead a natural flood management strategy and monitoring programme. The project has been an effective example of using community engagement and technology to enable local people to feed into the decision-making process.

Outputs

Climate-ready forestry at Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. Forest Research Case Study 1 (supporting Atkinson, 2022)

The Strathard Project (FR project page)

Harnessing the Power of Maps (FR news article)

The Strathard Project: A landscape to live, work and play (FR infographic)

The Strathard Project: Case Study (FR workshop presentation)

Strathard Initiative: Landscape Scale Conservation (SEPA case study)

The Forest Hydrology Research Programme (FR research page)

Forestry and Natural Flood Management (FR research page)

Nisbet (2021). FR Factsheet: Climate change, flooding and forests

Bellamy & Rattey (2018). Story Map. Harnessing the power of maps. Forestry & Timber News, February, pages 58-59

Rattey et al. (2016). Strathard. A landscape to live, work and play. In Proceedings of the ialeUK Conference Landscape Characterisation: Methods & Applications in Landscape Ecology. University of Reading

Forest Restoration

The SUPERB Demonstration Area

In addition to functioning as the ClimateXChange adaptation forest (see above), the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park also hosts the Scottish SUPERB forest restoration project.

This EU Horizon-funded project aims to restore thousands of hectares of forests in Europe and to develop 12 large-scale demonstration sites. FR is working jointly with FLS to explore how to upscale forest restoration and climate-change adaptation measures across the wider landscape. We will derive practical and scientific knowledge from the site, share lessons learnt with other stakeholders, and support other relevant initiatives.

Forest restoration at QUEP is focused on i) higher-elevation planting to expand native woodland and scrub cover above the current treeline; ii) removing conifers from riparian zones and replacing them with broadleaved trees, along with various other interventions to reduce peak water flows, in doing so developing a Natural Flood Management (NFM) demonstration area; iii) expanding continuous cover forestry (CCF) to improve species and structural diversity within conifer plantations. Restoration goals and strategies are described in the current Demonstration Area Workplan.

In conjunction with the EU-funded FORWARDS Project, we have launched Forest Quest, a self-guided trail around the Forest Restoration Demonstration Area, to enable visitors to learn about how the forest is affected by climate-change, and to understand the measures taken by FLS to manage it in order to increase biodiversity and climate-resilience. FR is also working with the international FORWARDS Consortium to develop the prototype ForestWard Observatory; a monitoring and evaluation tool that will help to demonstrate the impact of climate-change on forests, guiding future management.

Outputs

Upscaling Forest Restoration (SUPERB project page)

Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, Scotland Demo. Area (SUPERB project page)

Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, Scotland (SUPERB Restoration Workplan)

SUPERB. Upscaling Forest Restoration (FR Climate Change page, with links to many resources)

Forest Knowledge Gateway (SUPERB resources portal)

Forest Quest: Self-Guided Trail to Connect People With Nature (SUPERB / FORWARDS page)

SUPERB Project LinkedIn Page

Forest soils: carbon balance, nutrients and atmospheric pollutants

Soil sustainability

BioSoil is a demonstration project, part of the programme of the International Cooperative Programme on the Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests).

The project is a test for the development of operational soil monitoring at a large scale. A soil-survey plots was established at the Corrigrennan block (Plot 202) in 2006. Soil chemical and biodiversity components have been described, in order to establish a common European baseline of forest soils for further environmental research.

Open-access data are available for all of the British plots including pH, soil organic carbon, soil inorganic carbon, total nitrogen, base cations and heavy metals, bulk density and fragment content.

Outputs

Soil sustainability – Forest Focus – BioSoil  (FR research page)

Forest Research BioSoil Data. Open-access data, available under Open Government Licence

Soil sustainability – List of all FR Publications

Integrated forest monitoring (FR research page)

Soils Advice: developing tailored support for managers to optimise forest soil health (FR research page)

Woodland creation and soil carbon and nutrient dynamics (FR research page)

Peatland restoration, bogs and woodlands

Deforestation on peatland; effects on greenhouse gasses and water quality

Peatland habitats are important for biodiversity and flood management. Due to their water-logged and anaerobic conditions they also accumulate plant debris over time and are highly significant carbon-sinks.

Historical and ongoing studies at Loch Katrine and at Flanders Moss have helped to formulate much of the current guidance for peatland restoration. Flanders Moss (a National Nature Reserve) is one of the largest remaining raised bogs in Britain and is an active peatland restoration site, subject to removal of former conifer plantations and their associated drains.

FR is helping to assess the impacts of this restoration on both greenhouse gas fluxes and water quality (particularly transport of phosphorus and dissolved organic carbon), and their impacts on aquatic ecology and carbon balances.

Outputs

Effects of peatland restoration on water quality (FR research page)

Peatland ecosystem services (FR research page)

Peatland restoration (FR Tools & Resources page)

Rewetting trials (FR research page)

Forestry Commission (2025). Managing forest operations to protect the water environment (Second Edition). FC UK Forestry Standard Practice Guide

Shah & Nisbet (2019). The effects of forest clearance for peatland restoration on water quality. Science of The Total Environment, vol.693, article 133617

Forestry Commission Scotland (2015). Deciding future management options for afforested deep peatland. FCS Practice Guide

Yamulki et al. (2013). Soil CO₂ CH₄ and N₂O fluxes from an afforested lowland raised peatbog in Scotland: implications for drainage and restoration. Biogeosciences, vol.10, pages 1051–1065

Dataset for above (open-access): Greenhouse Gas exchange data from Flanders Moss forest with associated temperature and soil water data

Morison et al. (2012). Understanding the Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Balance of UK Forests, FC Research Report

Anderson (2010). Restoring afforested peat bogs: results of current research. FC Research Note 006

Morison et al. (2010). Understanding the GHG implications of forestry on peat soils in Scotland. Report by FR for FC Scotland

Neustein (1972). Drainage of Deep Peat. In, Report On Forest Research for the Year Ended March 1972, Forestry Commission

McNair (1965). A technique for preparation of peat moss for planting, Achray, Loch Ard. In, Forest Journal of the Forestry Commission, No.34.

Remote sensing

Remote-sensing applications for forest management

For many years, FR has used the forest blocks around Loch Lomond and The Trossachs for the testing and development of airborne LiDAR, field laser-scanning, digital aerial photography and optical satellite systems.

We are currently developing techniques for using these to assess tree height and improve mensuration estimates, update of sub-compartment databases, improving production-forecast estimations, detect wind-damage, and to monitor tree health and plant stresses.

Output

Remote Sensing (FR tools and resources page)

ReForeSt: Remote sensing for Forest management and Structural Diversity (FR project page)

Trees Outside Woodland Map (FR tools and resources page)

Ruiz-Ramos et al. (2020). Continuous Forest Monitoring Using Cumulative Sums of Sentinel-1 Timeseries. Remote Sensing vol.12, article 3061

Smigaj et al. (2019). Canopy temperature from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as an indicator of tree stress associated with red band needle blight severity. Forest Ecology & Management, vol.433, pages 699-708

Zhao et al. (2018). Utility of multitemporal lidar for forest and carbon monitoring: Tree growth, biomass dynamics, and carbon flux. Remote Sensing of Environment, vol.204, pages 883-897

McInerney et al. (2010). Forest canopy height retrieval using LiDAR data, medium-resolution satellite imagery and kNN estimation in Aberfoyle, Scotland. Forestry, vol.83, pages 195-206

Suárez et al. (2005). Use of airborne LiDAR and aerial photography in the estimation of individual tree heights in forestry. Computers & Geosciences, vol.31, pages 253-262

Crow (2008). Historic environment surveys of woodland using LiDAR. FR Research Report

Silviculture: the cultivation and care of woodlands

Natural regeneration of European larch

Situated close to the David Marshall Lodge, this large stand of mature European larch was designated for continuous cover management for many years. However, the successful natural / understorey regeneration of this highly light-demanding species often proved to be challenging.

In 1998, plots were established to study the effects of gap sizes (clearfell, standard thinning and heavy thinning) on seedling recruitment. However, after 10 years and in spite of relatively favourable site conditions, regeneration was widely found to be dominated by more shade-tolerant species (particularly Sitka spruce) and other more competitive ground vegetation. Very low seed viability and the lack of a bare mineral soil to favour larch seedling germination were determined to be the main causes.

It was concluded that, on this type of site, larch regeneration would be best favoured by group felling combined with intensive ground disturbance. Sadly the larch is now due for felling as a result of Phytophthora ramorum, but the mixed understorey will be retained and monitored for mixed-age & mixed-species growth modelling.

Outputs

McLean et al. (2024). Wood properties and uses of larch in Great Britain. FR Research Report

Mason (2020). Encouraging Greater Use of Continuous Cover Forestry. Part 1. Stand and site considerations. RFS feature article

Mason et al. (2011). Continuous cover forestry in larch plantations: a case study in central Scotland. Scottish Forestry, vol.65, pages 14–22

European larch / Larix decidua (FR species page)

Wind risk: the effects of management for continuous cover

In order to investigate the potential of Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) to reduce the threats from wind-risk, FR is working in partnership with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to study wind exposure and airflow through forest canopies across two types of conditions: woodland in transition from even-aged conifer monoculture to CCF, and how conifer-dominated CCF compares with broadleaf-dominated CCF.

Findings are expected to improve our current forest resilience policies and management practices, enable CCF-specific updates to the ForestGALES wind-risk decision-support tool, and inform our understanding of how wind-exposure and diverse stand structures affect wood development and potential timber quality. The Wind Within The Trees project team held its first engagement event for stakeholders and researchers in October 2025 at the QEFP.

Outputs

The wind within the trees: understanding windstorm risks in continuous cover forestry (CFP project page)

Shaping understanding of Continuous Cover Forestry to reduce windthrow (CFP summary of Workshop held at QEFP)

ForestGALES Decision Support System (FR Tools & Resources page)

Tree stability and wind risk to forests (FR research page)

Wind and trees (FR research page)

Gardiner & Stacey (1996). Designing Forest Edges to Improve Wind Stability. FC Technical Paper 16

Quine et al. (1995). Forests and wind: management to minimise damage. FC Bulletin 114

Tree species, provenance and improvement trials

Pacific silver fir: provenance trial

Pacific silver fir is currently considered to have considerable potential for British forestry. This trial, planted in 1985, has tested the performance of material from 14 seed zones located in the Pacific north-west of America. Findings were published in 2016, indicating little variation between seed origins.

The plots have now been retained for demonstration purposes. Wood properties in respect of timber potential have also been studied recently, indicating suitability for the whitewood construction timber market.

Outputs

Abies amabilis / Pacific silver fir (FR species page)

Edwards et al. (2025). Future productive species for Scotland. Report by FR, commissioned by Scottish Forestry with the cross-sector Adaptation & Resilience Steering Group

Price et al. (2024). Timber properties of species with potential for wider planting in Great Britain. FR Research Note 045

Investigating the timber properties of species with potential for wider planting in Great Britain (FR project page)

Kerr et al. (2016). No seed zone effects on the survival, growth and stem form of Pacific silver fir in Britain. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, vol.46, pages 427–436

An investigation of seed zone effects on the survival, growth, and stem form of Pacific silver fir in Britain (FR project page)

Savill et al. (2016) Silver Firs of Europe and the Near East. RFS/QJF Species Profile

McG Wilson (2011). Using alternative conifers for productive forestry in Scotland. Forestry Commission Scotland, Edinburgh.

Abies amabilis (Douglas ex Loudon) Douglas ex Forbes (USFA / USFS plant profile)

Abies amabilis (entry in The Gymnosperm Database)

Poplar: species and provenance trials

During the 1950s, several poplar species and provenance trials were planted at Garadbhan Forest. Species included Populus tremula, P. trichocarpa and Populus x canadensis Robusta. Whilst all of these trials have now been felled and replanted, the findings they generated have helped to formulate current guidance.

Outputs

Populus nigra / black poplar (FR species page)

Populus tremula / aspen (FR species page)

Short Rotation Forestry (FR Tools & Resources page)

Tabbush & Beaton (1998). Hybrid poplars: present status and potential in Britain. Forestry, vol.71, pages 355-364

Jobling (1990). Poplars for Wood Production and Amenity. FC Bulletin 92

Peace (1952). Poplars. FC Bulletin 19

Forestry Commission (1923). Poplars. FC Bulletin 5