Early estimates reveal that about 300,000m³ of timber was felled by high winds in the central belt of Scotland earlier this month.
The Forestry Commission told TTJ that the figures were worse than it would normally expect annually but nowhere near the levels of the 1968 storm in central Scotland which felled 1.64 million m³.
Surveys across the region show about 50,000m³ of windblow in Cowal & Trossachs forest district and 50,000m³ in Galloway forest district. In Tay 20,000m³ was felled, with 65,000m³ in the Scottish Lowlands and 50,000m³ across West Argyll.
The balance is made up of expected findings in Dumfries and Borders.
The Forestry Commission said the greater part of the damage is in sporadic pockets around forest edges.
“We don’t have any concerns about being able to absorb this – most of it will be mopped up as part of normal harvesting activities.”
The timber will be managed so as not to flood the market with windblow.
The windblow represents about 10% of the Forestry Commission Scotland annual cut. A catastrophic windblow event eliciting a forest industry response would require windblow volumes to reach 100% of the annual cut or more than 1 million m³ in any one production forecasting zone, or more than 1.5 million m³ across combined zones.
