Rewilding the Scottish Highlands - Ath-fhiadhachadh na Gàidhealtachd

A charity based in Moray (Scottish Gaelic: Moireibh), Trees for Life, is working with Rewilding Europe, 20 landowners and six other organisations on a project to rewild an area of more than 500,000 acres in the Highlands of Scotland. Trees for Life have the aim of Rewilding the Scottish Highlands (Scottish Gaelic:  Ath-fhiadhachadh na Gàidhealtachd).  They state their objective as "a revitalised wild forest in the Highlands of Scotland, providing space for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive".

Rewilding would result in large-scale conservation enabling landscapes to evolve natural processes. In the areas covered, land management is reduced, fences and drainage removed. The area covered by the plan is envisaged to take place over a period of thirty years and could stretch from Loch Ness, across the central Highlands to Kintail on the north west Highlands coast. Working with local people and businesses the plan is to link up a network of landholdings to create a large nature recovery area which would include glens Cannich, Affric, Moriston and Shiel. 

Image: Loch Awe, Argyllshire painting by Alexander Nasmyth (1758 - 1840).