The Scotland river woodlands to be created using new £200k funding pot

The funding is part of a four-year £3.5 million project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund

A £200,000 grant has been made available to kick start new river woodland creation and restoration activities across Scotland.

The Riverwoods Development Grant will fund between 10 and 20 initiatives across Scotland, including ones run by environmental NGOs, charitable trusts, community groups and local public bodies, to produce river woodland development plans to improve river health.

The funding is part of the Riverwoods Blueprint Project, a four-year, £3.5 million project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and other groups that sit at the core of the Riverwoods partnership. The project is led by Scottish Wildlife Trust and partners with other groups, including Fisheries Management Scotland, Woodland Trust Scotland, Buglife, Tweed Forum, Kyle of Sutherland Rivers Trust and Spey Catchment Initiative.

Riparian planting at Glenfeshie | Peter Cairns

The partnership said Scotland has more than 125,000km of rivers and streams. It said these “river woodlands”, the trees and woods near rivers, burns and lochs, are vital for creating and maintaining healthy rivers.

Following a Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) study, that showed only 13 per cent of riverside habitats are in good condition, the Riverwoods partnership said restoration was urgently needed.

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Leaders of the project said improving this habitat will support many native species, including ospreys, white-tailed eagles, otters, red squirrels and Atlantic salmon.

The initiative said more riparian projects will help species including the otter | Luke Massey

The organisation, however, warned solutions were often complex and must be tailored to each catchment. It said many local groups were aware of these challenges and were motivated to implement solutions, but often lacked the funding for necessary initial surveys, scoping and consultation.

Allt Lorgy Restoration Project © Spey Catchment Initiative

The Riverwoods Development Grant seeks to overcome this barrier, the project said.

Applicants can apply for up to £20,000 until July 28 to carry out the necessary scoping, analysis, community engagement and planning to identify viable opportunities for expanding river woodlands and improving riparian habitats.

Successful candidates will be notified in October and have until March 2027 to complete their development plans.

Nicole Still, Riverwoods project manager at Scottish Wildlife Trust, said: “During the development phase of the Riverwoods Blueprint Project, the trust gathered information from 23 river restoration projects across Scotland in varying stages of development and implementation. The people we spoke to stressed the need for financial support to develop riparian planting initiatives, especially to cover the costs of sourcing technical expertise to develop funding applications.

“This grant will be key for enabling not-for-profits across Scotland to develop high integrity river woodland development plans that could bring huge benefits for Scotland’s wildlife. Without it, projects may fail to get off the ground at the very earliest stages.”

Caroline Clark, the National Lottery Fund director for Scotland, said: “Caring properly for Scotland’s river catchments and their woodlands is vital to managing the impacts of climate change and helping nature flourish. The launch of this grant scheme is a key next step in helping achieve this river restoration, and we at the National Lottery Heritage Fund are delighted that our funding is contributing towards this essential work.”

The announcement comes after the Scottish Wildlife Trust bought the 18,824-acre (7,618ha) Highland Inverbroom Estate last month for £17.5m after receiving a large private donation.

The charity plans to regenerate native woodland, restore peatland and carry out nature-friendly farming on the area of land, near Ullapool, that is larger than the city of Dundee.