5 million Scottish trees felled for wind farms

The Scotsman ^ | 2nd January 2014 | ILONA AMOS

[george76]

ONLY a fraction of Scottish forests felled to make way for wind farms have been replanted, figures show, sparking calls for a ban on new developments.

Forestry Commission statistics reveal that about five million trees – almost one for every person in Scotland – have been cut down to clear space for turbines in the past six years but less than a third of them have been replaced.

Of the 2,510 hectares stripped of woodland to make way for turbines since 2007, just 792 hectares were reforested after construction was completed.

The Scottish Conservatives, who obtained the figures through a Freedom of Information request, claimed the figures are evidence that the Scottish Government is “destroying nature” in a bid to meet its own climate targets, which aim for all the country’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.

MSP Murdo Fraser, energy spokesman for the party, said: “The SNP is so blindly obsessed with renewable energy that it doesn’t mind destroying another important environmental attribute to make way for it.

[3Fingas]

That sounds great for the eco-system. Liberals are such morons. Their remedies are usually worse than the illness.

[gasport]

More Bird-o-Matics

[Truth29]

I hope somebody is able to calculate the additional CO2 increase caused by the loss of the trees vs. the CO2 avoided by using windmills vs. carbon sources.

[stormer]

It’s about 9 square miles - not exactly a large area.

[stormer]

And that was just a guess, it’s actually closer to 10.

[centurion316]

Scots Wha Hae

[Winniesboy]

And the trees they chop down are Scots or Scotch Pine

No, they're not...although you wouldn't know this from the highly misleading reporting. The forestry managed by the Forestry Commission in Scotland is almost entirely artificial plantation rather than wildwood. These plantations are dominated by non-native species such as Sitka spruce, grown as a quick-return timber crop, especially in the Southern Uplands. The areas of remnant natural forest, where the wonderful Scot Pine regenerates naturally, are in a few Highland enclaves such as Rothiemurchus in Speyside or Glen Affric. These are mostly in sheltered glens, which are unsuitable locations for windfarms, are not usually on Forestry Commission land, and are often highly protected anyway.

[jmacusa]

Laddie, are ye daft? “Scotch’’ is a bloody drink! Ach!

[jmacusa]

The wee bairns!

[jmacusa]

You’re daft laddie. Try tellin’ that to a Scot and see how long it takes fer ye ears to cool off!

[SpaceBar]

Wind farms are the modern version of the giant heads of Easter Island.

[jmacusa]

Truth is laddie, my people are all from Ireland. I ken all that I ken about the Scots from growin’ up in Kearny, New Jersey.

[TurboZamboni]

IIRC, This is how they ended up with Easter Island.

They cut down all their trees to build things to move rocks to make into idols to their gods.

In this case,Gaia and Manbearpig.

[Rennes Templar]

So I take it you’re not Scottish?

[freekitty]

So true.

[Reeses]

The White Hut is switching to new Sheryl Crow select a half sheet version.

[Jonah Hex]

In related news, Thane Macbeth passed away of heart failure when he was told of Birnam Woods’ disappearance...

[Wuli]

it should be retitled: “A Green Revoltion: 5 Million Scottish Trees Felled for Wind Farms”.

[the scotsman]

I and my near-5m fellow Scots refer to ourselves as Scottish. I refer to myself as ‘a Scot’, ‘Scots’ and ‘Scottish’. I/we use them interchangeably.

[jmacusa]

No. I'm an American. My people came from Ireland. Waterford and County Lough. I grew up in Kearny, New Jersey at a time when Kearny was predominately Scot. I went to school with two kids who were born in Scotland and came here when they were around 10 years old. I had many friends in Kearny whose parents were born in Scotland and came here, mostly after WW2. One of my fathers best friends, a man, who like my Dad was a bricklayer, was a big tall Scot by the name of of John McKee. He's late of this world some forty years. John McKee was as big a Scot with an accent thick as blood pudding. He served in the Eighth Army , ''The Desert Rats'' of WW2 fame. He saw combat in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. John McKee had no love for the English, I can tell you that. My next door neighbors on one side of us were a lovely Scot couple, Bill and Margaret Laurie. He owned a butcher shop and my older brother worked for him in the summer. It was there that I learned what meat pies and ''bridies''were and what ''pudding'' was. On the other side of us were Andy and Joyce Lee. They were nice people. Friend I grew around Scots probably more than most Americans ever did.