The North East Group area follows the boundary of Scottish Forestry’s Grampian Conservancy and covers approximately 880,000 ha, from near Forres in the north-west to Laurencekirk in the south east and as far west as Braemar.
North East region comprises a mosaic of land uses, within a varying topography, from the farmland of the Buchan Plains to the wooded slopes of the Cairngorm mountains.
The woodland area of 150,000ha is 24% of land cover, with a high proportion of forestry owned by private forestry owners. 72% is productive coniferous woodland with a high proportion of Scots pine, the remaining 28% is broadleaved woodland and scrub.
The next North East Scotland meeting will be on 23rd April 2026 in Aberdeen – more details and BOOKING.
The region plays host to a wide range of forest and wood-based businesses, from forest nurseries through to timber frame companies.
A significant proportion of the forests and woodland are privately owned. These properties are made up of a mix of larger scale production forests and estates with mixed land use, where forests and woodland plays a significant part in timber production and/or a backdrop for tourism/recreation.
As well as Sitka and Norway spruce, Scot’s pine makes up a significant proportion of the species harvested in this region.
Most of the timber produced from the local forests is used by local wood processors which include large scale sawmills and wood/fuel pellet manufacturers, all having invested significantly in new infrastructure in recent years.
A proportion of the timber is transported out of the region to panel board mills in the North and Central regions. When market conditions allow, the local ports offer import and export opportunities.
Grampian Timber Transport Group
The Grampian – Timber Transport Forum meets regularly to discuss issues relating to timber transport on the public road network and to review the Timber Transport Agreed Routes Map for North East Scotland. The contact for the GTTG is Claire Glaister.
North East Steering Group
Members as at November 2021 are: