Opened by the First Minister, John Swinney last week, Newton Nursery located in north-east Scotland was set up to support timber production and woodland creation across Scotland.
The new, modern glasshouse is approximately 12,000 square metres (m²) in size and has a growing capacity of around 25 million trees per year.
The established nursery, first opened in 1931, was upgraded to meet the government’s woodland creation targets and received funding from the Scottish Government (£20) and Forestry and Land Scotland (£6). The nursery grows core conifer and broadleaved species, such as Scots pine, sitka spruce, alder, silver birch and rowan.
Newtwon Nursery will supply publicly-managed forests of Scotland, to support rural economies, provide flood mitigation, improve biodiversity and sequester carbon. Swinney said that the new facility sets a new standard for bio-secure, sustainable, and high-volume forest nursery production.
Seedling operations began in March and a reported 12 million trees have already been established.
