However, it has emerged that Forestry Commission Scotland has realised a profit of more than �28 million by selling off woodland.
John Mayhew, director of the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland, warned this could deprive the public of access to wild landscapes.
He said: ?The concern is that some of these valuable public benefits might be lost in the medium to long term if state forests are transferred to the private sector, whatever short-time guarantees might be given at the time of transfer.?
An adviser to the Scottish Executive on forestry matters, who preferred to remain anonymous, said: ?The commission is reducing the value of the nation?s estate by stealth.
?It?s being sold piecemeal to the highest bidder. Isn?t this far worse than what is proposed in England and Wales??
The commission manages about 1.6 million acres of woodland, including the Caledonian pine forests of Glenmore in the Cairngorm National Park, the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park in the Trossachs and the forests around the Queen?s View in Perthshire.
Since 2007 the quango has spent �31 million buying up new forestry but has sold off �59.4 million of its estate, almost twice as much.
In 2009/10 the commission disposed of 13,500 acres for �15 million, but only spent �2 million of the proceeds on new woodland.
Among the properties it has recently sold are the 4,500-acre Corrour plantation in Lochaber, in the Highlands, and 2,500 acres of trees at Acharossan in the Trossachs.
But Roseanna Cunningham, the SNP Environment Minister, branded any suggestion that Scotland?s forests were being privatised as ?nonsense?.
?When we consulted the public and stakeholders two years ago on how to manage Scotland?s national forests estate, the message was very clear ? no privatisation ? and that has been, that is, and that will remain, the case,? she said.
?The commission is doing a fantastic job of delivering more of the benefits of woodland to a greater number of people across Scotland and its repositioning programme is a key element of that success.?
A Forestry Commission Scotland spokesman said its strategy involved selling woodland in more remote areas in favour of securing more expensive land near towns and cities.
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