Forestry Commission Scotland is urging all forest workers and visitors to ‘keep it clean’ and help minimise the risk of tree diseases spreading to healthy forests.
One of the ways that diseases can arrive in a healthy forest is to be carried there in mud and forest debris that gets stuck on people’s boots or bike tyres, or even on dogs’ paws and horses’ hooves.
The simple advice asks people to take a few minutes before visiting a woodland to brush off dirt and mud – and to make this a habit before every woodland visit.