One of Scotland’s largest woodland schemes developed in the last year, and said to be “an exemplar” for natural capital projects, has caused “significant disturbance” to a protected habitat in a national park, a report has found. The Muckrach woodland scheme, near Grantown-on-spey, sits on a former moor covering more than 1,500 acres of the Cairngorms National Park. Advertisement Advertisement Sign up to our daily newsletter , get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
Landowner Calthorpe Estates, a property investment company based in Birmingham, was awarded just over £2.5m in taxpayers money for the tree planting initiative. The company’s chief executive Haydn Cooper said the landscape-scale project will contribute to “mitigating climate change while creating a diverse habitat, all within the Cairngorms National Park.
” The scheme is managed by Savills, whose rural director said the site will see “peatland restoration in order to achieve carbon capture, natural regeneration, and biodiversity enhancement.” Almost one million trees have now been planted at the site in the last year, the majority of which are Scots Pine and native broadleaves. But a recent report following an inspection by Scottish Forestry foun.
