Hi there. It was myself that wallace was referring to as the person who was speaking to the land managers for Craigallian & Carglas. I met up with them last week (following a positive introduction via the Mugdock Rangers). They’re planning a fair bit of forestry work over the next few months (April to July). It looks like Flux & Clifftop will be the focus of the work. There are some other sections being felled too. This is mainly because the forests have started to “blow” (their forestry jargon) in those areas. Also, they will be upgrading the forest road from Boards/top of Flux winding round to Khyber Road, exiting at the gate where the black Reliant Robin parks up.
However, it’s not all negative. They know that the forest is well used and accept that it’s a local ammentiy (as well as being a commercial plantation). So, they’ve offered to take the trails into consideration when felling and replanting. For example, they may be able to fell away from the trails and replant to allow space for the trails to be re-instated (assuming the original trail was on a line worth keeping!). They’re not making any concrete promises, just on a best-can-do basis. Also, in other areas of forest that aren’t due for felling they may be able to help clear blocked trails – because of liability and insurance issues they need to use their people to do it (plus handsaws won’t shift some of the huge trees that are down!).
I guess the main thing is they’re aware of us and are open to talk about what can be done. On the face of it it seems genuine. Yes, probably quite a lot of disruption over the next few months but the possiblity of re-instating something and a land manager that is willing to listen has to be a positive. Early days so I’ll try to keep the trail maintenance volunteers and STW updated (either directly or via clubmates/volunteers).
Also, if you’re interested in volunteering to help out with our Mugdock work then drop me a mail (email in profile). NB: we need to balance the volunteers to the work/tools available on the day so we may need to limit the number of volunteers on the next sessions (it just shows the volume of support from the local riders!). Please register your interest though and we’ll be in touch. cheers.
