Million pound grant to 'roll out rainforest' around Scottish mountain
PR & communications officer - Scotland
Woodland Trust Scotland is to receive £1m+ through the Forestry Grant Scheme to expand rare Scottish rainforest around the slopes of a Highland mountain.
Ben Shieldaig in Torridon currently hosts a pine rainforest on one flank with a birch rainforest on another, covering a total area of 100ha.
The FGS payment of £1,017,071.27 over five years will fund planting on a further 260.56ha with Woodland Trust self-funding an additional 85.62ha.
In total nearly half a million native trees will be planted – mostly Scots pine, birch and willow but also including oak, aspen, alder, hazel, and juniper.
Scotland’s rainforest is made up of the native woodlands found on our west coast in the ‘hyper-oceanic’ zone. High levels of rainfall and relatively mild temperatures year-round provide just the right conditions for some of the world’s rarest bryophytes and lichens.
Trees alone do not immediately create a Scottish rainforest, but with the rare habitat on the mountain already, the range of mosses, liverworts, lichens, ferns and other species that characterise it will be able to spread out and colonise the new areas of woodland over time.
Ben Shieldaig and its surrounds teem with iconic Scottish wildlife including sea eagle, golden eagle, red squirrel, pine marten and otter. The UK’s smallest dragonfly, the black darter and the vulnerable azure hawker dragonfly have both been recorded here as well as the Red Data Book listed hover fly Callicera rufa.
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “Scotland’s rainforest area is a hugely important habitat, full of biodiversity and home to some of the world’s rarest lichens and bryophytes. Protecting and enhancing this unique woodland area in Scotland is essential.
“The £1 million in public funding will help Woodland Trust Scotland kickstart a major revival of the rainforest habitat in this mountainous landscape.”
Estate manager Malcolm Turner said: “Our aims at Ben Shieldaig are to protect, expand, connect and diversify the forest. We want to protect the existing woodland which is a remnant of what once covered much of the landscape of the west Highlands. We will expand it – by planting in some areas and encouraging natural regeneration in others. We will connect up our woods to those on neighbouring estates and link up stands currently isolated in gullies and crags. A wider range of native tree and shrub species will be grown to make the woodland more diverse and therefore resilient in the face of changing climate, pests and diseases.
“This grant kicks us off for the planting component of our plans, and work will begin in the coming winter. Since taking on the site four years ago we have been in ongoing discussion with the local community about the best way forward – for people, the forest and its wildlife. There is a general groundswell of support for expanding the woodland. People are proud of the woods that are here, with heritage stretching back to the last ice age, and would like to see them continue to thrive.”
Almost all the trees being planted will be grown on from seed which has been collected on or immediately around the site so the saplings will be suited to local conditions.
Local volunteers helped squirrel away the following seeds:
- 20,000 alder
- 1,500,000 downy birch
- 5,000 hazel
- 40,000 rowan
- 5,000 oak
- 140,000 pine
- 20,000 eared willow
- 20,000 goat willow
Volunteer Graham Rennie from nearby Strathcarron said: “We have been sending the seeds through the post to the nursery. It is very satisfying to be part of this revival of the woodland.”
The grant from Scottish Forestry will make a significant contribution to the costs of the trees, tree planting, ground preparation and protection measures. It also includes an annual maintenance payment for five years to ensure the successful establishment of the new woodland.
Woodland Trust Scotland purchased Ben Shieldaig in 2019 with the help of its members and supporters, and players of People’s Postcode Lottery. It acquired the neighbouring Couldoran Estate in 2021. Its long term plans are to expand woodland in both areas. Further planting and natural regeneration schemes are in the pipeline across the now combined estate – known as Glen Shieldaig.
Notes to editors
For further information contact George Anderson on 07770 700631.
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the UK with more than 500,000 supporters. It wants to see a world where woods and trees thrive for people and nature.
The Trust has three key aims:
- protect ancient woodland, which is rare, unique and irreplaceable.
- restoration of damaged ancient woodland, bringing precious pieces of our natural history back to life.
- establish native trees and woods with the aim of creating resilient landscapes for people and wildlife.
Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 29,000 hectares. Access to its woods is free so everyone can benefit from woods and trees.