National Trust For Scotland's Woodland Restoration Project gets underway on Glen Geldie
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THE National Trust have started work on a new woodland restoration project on Glen Geldie.
The transformative project is one of the most ambitious habitat-restoration schemes ever tackled by the conservation charity.
Glen Geldie is the largest nature reserve in the British Isles, but lost much of its native tree cover around 2000 years ago. The Geldie Woodland project led by the National Trust for Scotland on its Mar Lodge Estate, aims to restore this by planting more than 100,000 native Scots tree species along the banks of the River Geldie.
The project is being delivered in partnership with the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board, River Dee Trust, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Scottish Forestry and it is hoped that over time the project will help combat soil erosion, mitigate flooding and save endangered wild salmon and other threatened species.
The planting along the banks of the river, a key spawning tributary for the River Dee’s iconic wild salmon, will benefit the river’s biodiverse ecosystem by providing vital cooling shade and leaf litter to enrich the nutrient-poor water, where rising water temperatures due to climate change are posing a significant threat to the future of the species.
The National Trust for Scotland alongside The Dee Fishery Board are also planning further work in the Geldie, aiming to provide immediate benefits to the water habitat for spawning salmon, juvenile fish and other endangered species such as the freshwater pearl mussel. This will be achieved by placing large tree trunks with root plates into the river at strategic points, a process which would happen naturally in a well-forested river valley.
David Frew, National Trust for Scotland’s Head of Mar Lodge Estate, said the project fits firmly within the National Trust for Scotland’s wider vision for the land in its care. “We are pleased to start work on this ambitious project alongside our partners that will improve freshwater habitat and combat climate change in the glen. Our recently launched ten-year strategy, Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone, addresses the urgent need to tackle the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, and this work is a significant step in contributing to these goals.”
The River Dee Trust’s Chair, Sandy Bremner, stressed the urgency of the project. “We are in a race against time to save and restore our salmon stocks which play a pivotal role in the whole ecosystem. Restoring their home rivers will help them survive the challenges at sea where they are dying in large numbers. Salmon have enriched our communities and cultures for thousands of years. This project will help us in the battle to pass on that heritage to future generations.”
Dr Lorraine Hawkins, River Director for the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board, said: “This is a great step forward in our target to plant one million trees in the upper Dee catchment, to protect our remaining wild salmon stocks from climate change and restore the habitat to allow salmon numbers to recover”.
