Issue - meetings

Stewart Campbell advised of a request from Network Rail to put some of the tree cuttings from work around the West Highland Line across in the Duchess Wood.  It was noted that the Council was happy with the proposed action.

Simon Stuart provide the Committee with a brief overview of the work carried out by the Royal Scottish Forestry Society.  He advised of an ongoing project whereby they hoped to have a network of around 150 areas of wood across different areas to enable good practice to be shared around different types of woodland models.  He noted that there were many different types of models with woodlands across the country.  The Society would come to visit woods and have a discussion around the management arrangements and the type of woodland.  It would be the intention to then revisit the woods after a period of 5 or 10 years to see how the management plans are working.  The aim is to spread knowledge across Scotland. 

It was agreed to invite Simon to a future meeting once the Wood has been reopened.

Sean McCay advised that Doune Ponds and Murray Estates had made themselves available should the Friends of Duchess Wood wish to meet to discuss future working arrangements. Stewart Campbell advised that the Friends of Duchess Wood would contact Sean after the next formal Committee meeting to discuss.

Sean McCay advised that a pre-school provider had contacted him to discuss the possibility of using the Woods for educational purposes. Stewart Campbell advised that other groups had been accessing the woods for similar purposes, but this had been irregular. Stewart suggested that if regular access was sought they may wish to consider submitting an application.

Mhairi Gardiner, Development Officer, advised that she had received contact from a group who were keen to conducting some monitoring of Red Squirrels in Duchess Woods.  None of the Committee had encountered any Red Squirrels but it was agreed that Mhairi could pass contact details onwards to facilitate contact.