Knoydart hosts launch of Scotland rainforest strategy

by Finlay Greig

Knoydart hosted the launch of a new strategic approach for Scotland’s rainforest last week aiming to improve the condition and health of the precious habitat.
The strategy, developed by Scottish Forestry, underlined the need to deliver community benefits including the creation of rural jobs, skills and training, health, and wellbeing.
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon launched the paper in the shadow of old-growth oaks and hazel in Knoydart’s  woodland.
She said: “Scotland’s rainforest is a treasured natural asset. Restoring and expanding our rainforest will contribute to our nature positive net zero ambitions and conserve this iconic ecosystem for the future, as well as securing jobs and enabling green skills development.
“There is fantastic work already being carried out to restore and expand the rainforest here and by a great number of organisations and individuals working across the whole rainforest zone. Much of this has importantly involved communities, such as the case in Knoydart.
“This new strategic approach published today aims to build on this tremendous work and identify practical steps that the Scottish Government and its partners can take to help rejuvenate Scotland’s rainforest.”
The Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest have recently highlighted Knoydart as an “excellent example of community-led, landscape-scale rainforest restoration and expansion”.
The Knoydart Foundation and Knoydart Forest Trust have taken key steps in the past three decades to improve the habitat, including; the near eradication of invasive non-native species Rhododendron ponticum, effective deer management, the restructuring of non-native conifer plantation woodland which surrounds the village of Inverie and, expanding and linking woodland habitats on the peninsula
Lorna Schofield of the Knoydart Forest Trust celebrated the connection and interdependence of community and the land in regenerating the rainforest habitat and the community.
She said: “A lot of our work on Knoydart’s rainforest has concentrated on the eradication of invasive rhododendron. This work has spanned 25 years and is ongoing. It has mostly involved the Trust’s staff, backed up by volunteers, local residents and some contractors, and funded through a succession of forestry grants.
“Twenty-five years of community land ownership in Knoydart strongly demonstrates the benefits of long-term community led rainforest regeneration.”
Due to high levels of rainfall and relatively mild temperatures Scotland’s temperate rainforests host a variety of rare lichens, bryophytes and ferns.
Some of the highest quality examples of this habitat can be found on Knoydart.
Speaking at the launch of the strategy on July 16, Julie Stoneman of Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest celebrated the threatened habitat getting the “attention it deserves”.
She said: “Scottish Forestry’s refreshed approach to collaborative, landscape-scale, long term, and community-centric rainforest restoration is key to the future of this internationally important habitat, building on the work of ASR’s partners and rainforest communities.”

Image credit: Ian Collier, Scottish Forestry