Scotland's Forests and Land

Male mountain biker (with prosthetic leg), dressed in blue T shirt, green helmet and orange rucksack, cycles round bend up hill on elevated stony track in Glentress Forest, near Peebles

Things to do

Things to see

couple standing next to picnic table in front of campervan with reusable travel coffee mugs

Stay the Night

Trays of small trees inside a glasshouse

Our projects

Living and working

We provide a range of services for the public and for industry. Here you’ll find what you need from us – be it a permit, a contract or a sawlog.

View all our services

About us

We're the Scottish Government agency responsible for managing Scotland’s national forests and land.

We're proud to contribute to the continuing success of forestry in Scotland. Work on our national forests and land contributes £1 million to the Scottish economy each day, supports 11,000 jobs, soaks up over 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and hosts over 80 community projects with a focus on inclusive activities. We intend to build on this success.

Message from our CEO

Find out more

View from high viewpoint on heather covered moorland looking overforests and to Loch Affric with panoramic view of surrounding mountain range in the mist in distance, on a cloudy and grey day, Glen Affric

Our work in numbers

Growing

We grow and source around 24 million trees per year, around 19 million of these will come from our new world class tree nursery at Newton.

Protecting

We protect around 45,500 hectares of designated sites on our land (Sites of Special Scientific Interest), maintaining at least 94% of them in favourable condition.

Welcoming

We welcome around 10 million visits per year and continue to support open access across our network of 3,000km of trails and 10,000km of forest roads.

Updated May 2026

Protecting our habitats

We manage 8% of Scotland’s total land area. But did you know that less than two-thirds is actually forest?

It's made up of a rich tapestry of amazingly diverse habitats, from globally important native woodland and rare mountain scrub to thriving rivers and lochs. Together, these habitats help create an internationally renowned landscape that is not only great to look at but is also home to a wide variety of important and iconic wildlife.

We’re committed to conserving the land we manage and to tackling the things that threaten them.

Learn more about our conservation efforts