30,000 trees to be planted on one of Scotland's best known mountains in heart of national park

A mountain in the heart of Scotland’s largest national park is to have thousands of trees planted on it in a largescale woodland project.

Some 30,000 trees will be put in the ground at 600m on Cairn Gorm, near Aviemore, in the Cairngorms National Park. The mountain is one of Scotland’s best known and most visited munros and reaches 1,245m.

Organisations involved said the Coire na Ciste Montane Woodland Project will be the first habitat building scheme of its kind due to its large size.

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Montane woodland is set to establish to the slopes of Cairngorm Mountain through the Coire na Ciste Montane Woodland Project. | SCI

The woodland species will include low-growing, hardy trees such as dwarf birch, downy birch, and montane willows, which they said will “restore one of Scotland’s rarest habitats.”

It is said they will provide shelter and food for upland species including black grouse, mountain hare, ring ouzel and snow bunting.

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

They said it is hoped the woodland will also act as a seed source, supporting natural regeneration and helping native trees expand further uphill.

The new vegetation will be planted from August this year along the banks of a burn called Allt na Ciste.

Adam Fraser from the Cairngorms National Park Authority installs an acoustic monitoring device in Coire na Ciste as part of a long-term effort to study changes in birdlife as the woodland takes root. | Spey Catchment Initiative

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

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."

David Hetherington, nature networks manager at the CNPA, said: “The Park Authority is delighted to support the project. It represents an exciting opportunity to extend high into the Cairngorms a continuum of native woodland that currently runs up from the banks of the Spey to the upper edge of Glenmore Forest.

“Montane woodland is vanishingly rare in the Highlands as a whole and kickstarting the restoration of this vibrant, biodiverse habitat at Coire na Ciste, will bring a range of benefits for the freshwater and mountain ecosystems.”

Elsewhere, another one of Scotland’s most visited mountains, Schiehallion, is set for a woodland project, which starts this year.

The John Muir Trust will be putting posts in the ground up the mountain to fence off an area it hopes to see montane willow and other species grow.

The new 6.5km fence will travel from near the top of the mountain down the north and south sides and join an existing fence running below across the east of the munro, which the JMT owns.

There will be a roughly 1km gap in the fence at the summit, leaving an open bit at the top of the enclosure, which will cover about 800 hectares of mountain side.

The move has been controversial with estates and walkers in the area.

Neighbours said they are concerned the semi-enclosed area will be “a big lobster pot”, potentially concentrating deer impacts within the fenced area, not reducing them.

Visitors walking in the area said the development will disturb its “wild land” status.

JMT said the fence is to ensure the most impact on protecting the rare mountain woodland it hopes to establish on the munro.