Major boost for Nevis woodland regeneration

Nevis Nature Network area earmarked for nature restoration quadruples in size.

Nevis Nature Network (NNN) partner Jahama Highland Estates has made a significant commitment to expand native woodland across its 32,500ha Lochaber landholdings – effectively quadrupling the size of the area covered by the nature restoration project.

The original vision for the NNN project was to restore a rich mosaic of woodland habitats across 9,000ha of Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis. Thanks to Jahama’s announcement, that area is set to be more than four times larger, expanding to take in the Mamore and Killiechonate ranges around Ben Nevis and covering 41,500ha.

Jahama also plans to quadruple semi-natural native woodland cover from 1,425ha to 5,700ha over a ten-year period through natural regeneration in and around existing stands of mature seed trees.

The aim is to help new woodlands develop by reducing herbivore browsing pressure across the landscape in the glens and lower corries of Ben Nevis, the Grey Corries, the Mamores and in the remote moorland landscape between Kinlochleven and Inverlair, to the east of Roybridge.

David Balharry, CEO of the John Muir Trust, said: “Jahama’s announcement heralds the single biggest shift in land use I've seen in my lifetime in Scotland.

“The Trust’s land at Nevis is surrounded by Jahama’s landholding and the consequential benefits this will bring to our land as well to all adjoining land cannot be overstated. Regenerating trees on this scale will require deer control over a massive area, and that alone will bring exponential benefits to biodiversity.

“The back story to this announcement is years of collaborative conversations with all landowners across the Nevis Landscape Partnership – and we are proud of our Nevis Manager, Alison Austin [pictured above monitoring habitat], who was key in initiating these conversations with others to agree a potential vision for restoring native woodland at scale with natural regeneration.

“Jahama has taken that vision and the related evidence and expanded it across a scale which previously was not thought possible – and most importantly they have secured long-term funding to ensure sustainability of the vision.

“That means native woodland is set to increase in the next 10 years to around 6,000 hectares - and beyond that potentially to another 10,000 hectares. The really good news is that increased deer management is already underway and that in itself will significantly improve natural regeneration on our land.

“This alignment of land management approach with our neighbours is what we’ve all been working towards for years. It allows us to accelerate our work and plans for natural regeneration including for rare montane woodland, which naturally takes time in these areas.

“The landscape scale regeneration we hope to see is truly exciting for us all.”

• Read more about the Nevis Nature Network and Jahama's plans for the area.