FGS Climatic Site Suitability for Native Broadleaves in Scotland

Woodland Creation forms part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2014 - 2020, which utilized some £1,326m of funding. This dataset from the Government Digital Service contains polygons representing the climatic suitability of sites for native broadleaf tree species based on the Ecological Site Classification system, using factors like accumulated temperature and moisture deficit. It supports the Scottish Government target to extend woodland cover by an additional 100,000 hectares over the period of 2012-2022.

Use Cases

• Assessing initial site suitability for grant applications based on climatic factors like accumulated temperature and moisture deficit.
• Planning forest habitat network restoration to support climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration.
• Supporting rural development and farm diversification by identifying areas suitable for sustainable timber supply.
• Guiding species selection for new woodlands to protect soil and water environments and enhance landscapes.

Strengths

• Based on a defined scientific framework, the Forestry Research 'Ecological Site Classification' system.
• Directly supports a government programme with a £1,326m budget and a target of 100,000 hectares of new woodland.
• Climatic factors are explicitly defined, including accumulated temperature, moisture deficit, exposure, and continentality.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset does NOT take into account any soils information, which is a critical factor for tree suitability.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Likely derived from spatial analysis using the Ecological Site Classification decision support system.

Time Range

Associated with the SRDP period 2014-2020 and the woodland cover target for 2012-2022.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Scotland