After the two World Wars food production was even more important than the production of timber because it was needed to feed the population and it helped to reduce imports of agricultural products and thus money could be saved. The land that remained for forestry was mainly found in the remoter rural upland parts of Britain and in Scotland in particular. However, the physical conditions are not very favourable for forestry on the elevated grounds that forestry got.

The soils in the Highlands are influenced to a large extent by climate, especially temperature and rainfall. The low temperatures and waterlogged conditions make that organic material decomposes so slowly that it can accumulate in thick layers to form peat. Most of the upland areas and low waterlogged areas of the Western Highlands are covered with peat, which have under natural circumstances, have hardly any value for forestry. In the central Highlands the same conditions exist on the more elevated slopes and high plateaux. But in general, in the Central Highlands we find a typical pattern of podzols and in the valleys brown forest soils, which are extremely fertile and therefore in use for agriculture, are common.

In the central part and at the east-side of the Scottish mountains lie the upland heaths which are usually treeless and situated on podzolised compact soils with a thin layer of raw humus, and typically with a thin iron pan. Because of the high rainfall levels in these areas iron, aluminium and other metals are washed down from the top soil into the second soil layer, the B-horizon, where it develops into a sharply visible and very hard iron pan which prevents proper drainage and penetration of tree roots.

If we compare a map showing the location of Forestry Commission forests with maps showing the elevation pattern, soil distribution and precipitation, that most forests coincide with high elevation, peat and podzol soils and high precipitation.