New rewilding charity launches covering 200,000 hectares of central Highlands

The charity’s rewilding initiative will potentially cover over 700 square miles, stretching from Loch Ness to Kintail in the west, and encompassing Glens Cannich, Urquhart, Affric, Moriston and Shiel.

A new rewilding charity has launched in Scotland with the aim of bringing people together to carry out nature-led projects across the Highlands.

Affric Highlands said it sets out to “restore nature across more than 200,000 hectares of the central Highlands over the next 30 years”.

It plans to achieve this by bringing together a broad partnership of people, including landowners and communities, to help “boost wildlife”.

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The river Affric running into Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin in Glen Affric, Affric Highlands. | James Shooter / Rewilding Europe

The charity said it hopes to link and rewild areas across a network of landholdings that reach some 700 square miles from Loch Ness to Kintail in the west, and encompassing Glens Cannich, Urquhart, Affric, Moriston and Shiel.

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Affric Highlands said its partnership already consists of a broad coalition of 19 landowners, covering an area of over 58,000 hectares within the vast landscape.

It said these separate landholdings, which have all signed a memorandum of understanding, are making their own decisions on what nature recovery interventions are right for them, with the charity “providing guidance and support for seeking funding”.

Glen Loyne contains what is thought to be Scotland's oldest wild Scots pine, which is at least 565 years old. | Siân Addison

The charity said it hopes to strengthen rural livelihoods and nature-based economic opportunities, making the region “a hub for sustainable timber, fishing, farming, venison and wildlife tourism” and to create a network of businesses benefitting from the rewilding plans.

Affric Highlands executive director Stephanie Kiel, who previously worked as an environment consultant in renewables, said: “We want to create new opportunities and real benefits for local landowners, communities and rural economies, so nature, people and livelihoods can all thrive together.”

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Affric Highlands executive director Stephanie Kiel | James Shooter / Rewilding Europe

The charity said the Affric region was “largely ecologically damaged, with much land degraded following centuries of deforestation and overgrazing”.

It hopes to restore certain habitats to boost biodiversity and benefit wildlife including golden eagles, red squirrels, black grouse, mountain hares, salmon, trout, ospreys and otters.

Affric Highlands began work in September 2021, when it also became the ninth member of Rewilding Europe’s network. It has since operated as a joint venture led by Trees for Life, another large rewilding charity based in the Highlands.

The landscape the new charity is focusing on is centred on Glen Affric, where native woodland restoration has been taking place by Trees for Life since the 1990s.

Trees for Life’s own 10,000-acre estate at Dundreggan in Glenmoriston, which is home to a rewilding centre. The charity said it is one of more than 45 different estates that own most of the land in the Affric area of the Highlands.

Steve Micklewright, Trees for Life’s chief executive, said: “Affric Highlands’ success so far – coupled with the opportunities for people offered by its bold vision of landscape-scale nature recovery – has brought us to the point where it can now begin a new era as an independent charity. This is fantastic news for breathing new life into the Highlands through rewilding.”

The organisation joins a fleet of other charities and organisations in Scotland centred on rewilding initiatives including: Trees for Life, SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, Highlands Rewilding, the John Muir Trust and the Scottish Rewilding Alliance, which is made up of “like-minded organisations who share a mission to enable rewilding at a scale new to Scotland”.