Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has announced it is consulting on its new, three-year Corporate Plan.

Setting out the organisation’s proposed direction of travel and priorities for the next three years, the draft plan describes actions and priorities that will contribute to the delivery of a number of Scottish government priorities.

The consultation will run from October 11 until November 22, 2021, with the final, agreed plan published on 1 April 2022.

FLS chief executive, Simon Hodgson, said;

“We are in a unique position to make a significant contribution towards mitigating the climate emergency and helping Scotland arrive at Net Zero.

“But at the same time we are also well placed to manage Scotland’s national forests and land in a way that supports and enables economically sustainable forestry; conserves and enhances the environment; and delivers health, wellbeing and economic benefits for people and communities.

“Our proposals for how we deliver this are set out in our draft Corporate Plan and we are inviting all who have an interest in the national forests and land to give us their views on the outcomes and priorities that we have identified.

We know that Scotland’s national forests and land mean many things to many people, and all views offered will help shape how we work and what we do over the next three years

“I would like to thank in advance everyone who takes part.”

Key priorities

Key priorities include protecting Scotland’s forests from new and existing threats, responding to the biodiversity challenge and developing the business systems and staff skills to enable FLS to adapt to changing conditions and challenges as effectively as possible.

In helping also to create a more successful country, FLS intends to develop more commercial opportunities for the long-term benefit of the land that it manages, increase the number of opportunities for communities to benefit and to adapt to changing visitor and tourism requirements.