Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 51
1 I would certainly say that the yield from there which was
2 not destined for sawmill product, and certainly some of the
3 1920s and 1950s could be sawmill product, is likely to go
4 to those mills.
5
6 MR. MORRIS: That would also apply to the waste from the
7 sawmills as well, would it not, the waste that is suitable
8 for pulp would also have to be transported down?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You were going to say something?
12 A. I was going to say that the concerns over the area have
13 been of varying kinds. In fact, actually the Highland
14 Regional Council had an agreement with the Countryside
15 Commission for Scotland and the Nature Conservancy Council
16 in 1989 in which they confirmed the need to continue
17 planting in the wetland area of Caithness at the rate of
18 2,000 hectares per annum. None of that planning has taken
19 place by the Forest Enterprise. It has all been in private
20 areas where that has taken place. They were doing this in
21 order to sustain a viable forest industry into the next
22 century. So respectable organisations concerned with the
23 environment have agreed that it is not having such a
24 detrimental effect that a limited amount of planning should
25 not continue.
26
27 MR. MORRIS: That was the Highlands Council.
28 A. Yes.
29
30 Q. Is that your example for environmental ----
31 A. The Highland Regional Council and the working party
32 which produced the report comprised the Highland Regional
33 Council, the Highland and Islands Development Board, the
34 Countryside Commission for Scotland and the Nature
35 Conservancy Council.
36
37 Q. Are they all governmental bodies?
38 A. No. The Countryside Commission is set up by government,
39 but its representation is very broad and covers a wide
40 variety of environmental interests, similarly the Nature
41 Conservancy Council.
42
43 Q. I think we are on to soil erosion.
44 A. My Lord, I would add one point. I made fairly
45 extensive notes on this one. There is a point which I think
46 should be made because I may be seeming to be defending the
47 forest industry, but the forest industry I do not believe
48 really needs defence; it needs to declare the things it is
49 doing in environmental terms. Reference to the annual
50 reports of the Forestry Commission for 1985/1986 and also
51 1986/1987 make it clear that the Commission responded to
52 the concerns of the RSPB (which Mr. Morris referred to) and
53 have been in constant negotiation with Nature Conservancy
54 Council from the first stage of this issue affecting the
55 Caithness area of the peat land.
56
57 Q. In your first paragraph on soil erosion, the second
58 sentence, "The two main considerations are the effect of
59 harvesting and the impact of new planting". Are they the
60 two main problems as regards the causation of soil erosion
