Plate G5.no10: Tree Harvest – near Fort William (Scotland)

This picture was taken on the last day trekking the West Highland Way. Tree harvesting is a familiar sight in Scotland, it’s an industry, and I admit: when I see trees being purposefully ferried on trucks, invested therefore with value through need ie: commercially as well as practically viable – I’m encouraged. I’ve grown up in Scotland, I’ve been inundated by the continual depressing catalogue of litanies regarding: unemployment; redundancy; economic stagnation; recession (and the ‘national’ anthem doesn’t help either……) – those trucks pregnant full of tree potential are a manifest antithesis to this miserable heritage.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to witness, the sites of tree harvesting – they are graveyards; knowing that every tree is replaced doesn’t mitigate the visceral impact…and there’s always a few left standing, ravaged survivors of a willing slaughter.