Charity to plant 30,000 trees for Cairngorms mountain woodland

A high-altitude woodland is to be created on Scotland’s sixth highest mountain.

About 30,000 native species, including dwarf birth and montane willows, are to be planted at around 600m (1,968ft) on Cairn Gorm, near Aviemore.

Organisations involved in the Coire na Ciste Montane Woodland Project said it was the first habitat restoration scheme of its kind due to its large size.

They said the plan was to restore an ecosystem that was almost lost to Scotland.

Cairn Gorm is 1,245m (4, 085ft) high and one of Scotland’s best known mountains.

The tree planting is being led by the Spey Catchment Initiative (SCI) and funded by the Cairngorms National Park Authority.

Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd, which runs a ski resort on the mountain, and landowner Highlands and Islands Enterprise are helping to deliver the project.

The new woodland is to be planted along the banks of a burn called Allt na Ciste.

Penny Lawson, of SCI, said: “The Coire na Ciste Montane Woodland Project will create essential habitat for rare species, help cool rivers and connect fragmented habitats.

“It’s a powerful example of how woodland restoration can deliver nature-based climate action in one of the most special places in Scotland.”

Called montane woodland, the high altitude habitats were once found across Scotland as part of the Caledonian Forest.

It covered huge swathes of Scotland after the end of the last ice age in Scotland about 11,000 years ago.

The forest even reached the Western Isles and Shetland 5,000 years ago.

A change to a cooler and wetter climate, along with human activity, led to a decline in the forest’s coverage.

By the 1900s about 5% of Scotland’s land area had woodland, according to Scottish government agency NatureScot.