Warm gesture eases Mull's firewood shortage

Tioran Community Forest is helping ease Mull's firewood shortage by releasing 150 tons of timber to suppliers on the island.

 

Island-wide restrictions on using felled diseased larch that has expired any statutory plant health notice have also been relaxed so it can only be used to heat homes.

 

Tioran Community Forester Philip Yielder, of South West Mull and Iona Development, said the 150 tons was spruce that was left over from felling last year which has no restriction on movement.

 

He said it would be distributed to suppliers and hopefully to some individuals in need too.

 

North West Mull Community Woodland Company was represented at the recent Mull Community Council and told the meeting that it was also willing to make some of its 2,000 tons harvest available.

 

Moray Finch, general manager of Mull & Iona Community Trust, which has Ardura Community Forest on the east side of the island, said the trust is also hoping to give future help.

 

Mr Finch told community councillors: "We have no contract commitments so we have the latitude to make some of the harvested timber available for firewood.

 

"There's  a small amount we are hoping to harvest later this year but the rest of the harvest is about five or six years away."

 

Contact is being made with two timber businesses on the island to see what they are also prepared to do. Tilhill Forestry no longer has contracts on Mull.

 

Community councillor Joe Reade said: "It seems ridiculous that there's not some kind of moral or legal obligation that some of the timber should be put aside to be made available locally."

 

However, there is some understanding that the above has been historically contained within contracts.

 

In February, The Oban Times reported that people living on timber-producing Mull were struggling to buy firewood to heat their homes and that global demand building materials and biomass to make electricity had hoovered up any timber harvested on the island leaving firewood suppliers and residents in dire straits.

 

In a desperate attempt to source some, Forestry and Land Scotland was asked by lobbying islanders if locals could access stacks of diseased larch which by law have to lie unmoved for three years.