Cairn magazine - Spring 2024

spring 2024 cairn The magazine of ms Nation­al Park Cairngorms 2030 Becom­ing the UK’s first net zero nation­al park Inside Burn­ing issue Have your say on fire man­age­ment Beavers back Spe­cies returns to the Cairngorms

To find out more inform­a­tion on the stor­ies with­in this magazine please scan the QR code Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Do you have a ques­tion about some­thing in the Nation­al Park? The con­tacts on this page will help you to get to the cor­rect per­son or organ­isa­tion to help you. 유 Busi­ness sup­port Grow­Biz connect@​growbiz.​co.​uk Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship office@​visitcairngorms.​com D Loc­al coun­cil ser­vices Aber­deen­shire: 01467 534 333 Angus: angus​.gov​.uk High­land: 01349 886 608 Moray: 0300 123 4561 Perth and Kinross: 01738475000 Land man­age­ment and con­ser­va­tion Paths and access­ing the Nation­al Park outdooraccess@​cairngorms.​co.​uk outdooraccess-scotland.scot Plan­ning All plan­ning ques­tions should go to the rel­ev­ant loc­al author­ity in the first instance (see con­tacts on left) or vis­it eplan​ningcnpa​.co​.uk to view and com­ment on live applic­a­tions. Recruit­ment and cur­rent vacan­cies landmanagement@​cairngorms.​co.​uk nature@​cairngorms.​co.​uk recruitment@​cairngorms.​co.​uk Volun­teer­ing volunteers@​cairngorms.​co.​uk Vis­it­or inform­a­tion vis​it​cairngorms​.com vis​itscot​land​.com Some­thing else? enquiries@​cairngorms.​co.​uk Switch­board: 01479 873 535 Or to vis­it in per­son: Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square Grant­own on Spey PH26 3HG Front cov­er image: Hands hold­ing sphag­num moss on a peat bog in Atholl Ed Smith. Oth­er images © Al Smith, Alaska Stikova, Alford Academy / com­munity garden, Andrey Andreyev / unsplash​.com, Angus Find­lay, Alzheimer Scot­land, Beaver Trust, Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, Char­lotte Mil­burn, Craig Mills, Dav­id Lin­tern, Don­ald Ross, Ed Smith, G Ren­nie / Brit­ish Dragon­fly Soci­ety, Graeme Low, James Lee, James Shoot­er, James Stevens, Kelly Anne Demp­sey, Liam Ander­str­em, Louise Took, Mark Ham­blin / Scot­land the Big Pic­ture, Rachel Keen­an, River Dee Trust / Dee Dis­trict Sal­mon Fish­ery Board, Sav­ing Wild­cats, Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment, Sean Wil­li­am­son, Vis­itScot­land / Luigi Di Pasquale, Wee Epics. 2 cairn spring 2024

The magazine of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Issue high­lights Fàilte / Wel­come Wel­come to the spring edi­tion of Cairn, a magazine which has been cre­ated for all the folk who live and work in the Nation­al Park. 2024 may be only a few months old but a huge amount has happened since the last issue of Cairn hit your doormat. Just before Christ­mas, beavers returned to the Cairngorms for the first time in over 400 years. In early Feb­ru­ary, our Cairngorms 2030 pro­gramme received a £10.7m fund­ing boost from The Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund, super­char­ging our bid to become the UK’s first net zero nation­al park. And we launched two major con­sulta­tions on Gael­ic lan­guage and fire man­age­ment – help­ing shape our future plans. The past few months have not been without their chal­lenges, though, and the farm­ing protests that took place in Grant­own and Bal­later were a moment to pause and reflect. We under­stand the strength of feel­ing here and that was why it was import­ant to get round a table and build on the com­mon ground we all share. You can read more about that meet­ing by scan­ning the QR code. Whilst we won’t all agree on everything, it’s only by com­ing togeth­er and listen­ing to each other’s per­spect­ives that we can tackle the huge chal­lenges we face as a Park and as a plan­et. We’d love to hear what you think of this spring edi­tion. You can get in touch with us by call­ing 01479 873 535 or you can email us on haveyoursay@​cairngorms.​co.​uk This doc­u­ment is avail­able in oth­er formats on request. Burn­ing issue Page 9 Farm­ing for­um Page 6 Page 10 Beaver tales Page 12 Page 4 Please pass this on when you’re fin­ished, or recycle Busi­ness sup­port spring 2024 cairn 3

Cairngorms 2030 Net zero Nation­al Park First Min­is­ter Humza Yousaf and Min­is­ter for Green Skills, Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy and Biod­iversity Lor­na Slater vis­ited Mar Lodge Estate in Brae­mar to cel­eb­rate a major fund­ing award for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. The five-year Cairngorms 2030 pro­gramme — which will see the Cairngorms become the first net zero nation­al park in the UK – has been awar­ded £10.7m by The Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund. It will inspire people and com­munit­ies in the region to take action and tackle the nature and cli­mate crisis. Cairngorms 2030 is one of the largest pro­grammes ever fun­ded by The Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund and brings togeth­er 20 long-term pro­jects on nature res­tor­a­tion, act­ive travel and sus­tain­able trans­port, com­munity devel­op­ment and health and well­being (see page 14 for details). The total value of the pro­gramme could reach up to £42.3 mil­lion over the next five years, with fur­ther fund­ing poten­tially com­ing from the Park Author­ity, Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment and a range of oth­er part­ners. Speak­ing after plant­ing a nat­ive aspen tree with Nation­al Park Juni­or Rangers Anna and Kath­er­ine Par­fitt, Humza Yousaf said: ​“Scotland’s nation­al parks are more import­ant than ever in help­ing us tackle the biod­iversity and cli­mate crises – and strength­en­ing our rur­al com­munit­ies. ​“We are proud to sup­port the Cairngorms to become the UK’s first net zero nation­al park. The Cairngorms 2030 pro­ject is an excel­lent example of over 70 part­ners work­ing togeth­er to deliv­er bene­fits for rur­al com­munit­ies, busi­nesses and the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment.” Led by the Park Author­ity, the pro­gramme will be delivered by part­ners ran­ging from the NHS and loc­al schools to char­it­ies, land man­agers and busi­ness groups. It has been shaped by feed­back from over 4,000 res­id­ents with­in the Nation­al Park, who took part in nearly 150 dif­fer­ent events and activ­it­ies over the past 12 months. To see how you can get involved in the next stage of Cairngorms 2030 or to find out more about the pro­gramme, Scan the QR code. 4 cairn spring 2024 Taing than Made posa A’ Mhaoin- Dual­chais Her­it­age Fund

Cairngorms 2030 00 Trans­form­ing trans­port Cairngorms 2030 aims to make it easi­er to get around the Nation­al Park without a vehicle. A fund­ing applic­a­tion was recently sub­mit­ted to Sus­trans which, if suc­cess­ful, will allow us to take for­ward major improve­ments with the com­munit­ies of Aviemore and a num­ber of vil­lages in Badenoch and Strath­spey. In the mean­time, the team con­tin­ues to sup­port loc­al organ­isa­tions with act­ive travel and place­mak­ing devel­op­ments, such as the Cen­ten­ary Garden pro­ject in New­ton­more and cre­at­ing a new path from Dul­nain Bridge to Grant­own. The team is also work­ing with Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil and will soon begin work with Deeside com­munit­ies, find­ing ways to get around loc­al vil­lages more eas­ily. Schools out The Cairngorms 2030 team has been work­ing with four of the Nation­al Park’s sec­ond­ary schools. Pupils from Grant­own Gram­mar took res­id­ents from Park­lands Care Home out on e‑trike rides to enjoy the great out­doors, while Spey­side High and Kin­gussie High took part in Mock COP28, a stu­dent-led sum­mit in Inverness that explored ways of tack­ling the cli­mate crisis. Over in the east, 130 S2s from Aboyne Academy took on the role of pro­ject man­agers in order to tackle real-life chal­lenges emer­ging from the Cairngorms 2030 pro­gramme. And at Alford Academy, pupils have been work­ing with the loc­al ​‘Men’s Shed’ group to regen­er­ate a com­munity garden, improv­ing the space for people and boost­ing biod­iversity. ANY Alzheime Scot­land ction on Demen­tia Alzheimer Scot­land Action on Demen­tia Demen­tia centre One of the Cairngorms 2030 pro­jects, the UK’s first out­door demen­tia resource centre opened in April 2023 at Bad­aguish. The centre enables people with demen­tia, their fam­il­ies and carers to exper­i­ence the bene­fits of green health activ­it­ies. The Alzheimer Scot­land team are pre­par­ing to launch a sum­mer pro­gramme of activ­it­ies that will take place at the centre at Bad­aguish and in a num­ber of vil­lages through­out the Nation­al Park. Find out more by scan­ning the QR code. spring 2024 cairn 5

In your com­munity Take the lead this spring The Cairngorms is home to 25% of the UK’s rare and endangered spe­cies, and this spring we’re ask­ing every­one to play their part in ​‘tread­ing lightly’ when out and about in the Nation­al Park. Wheth­er you live here or are vis­it­ing for a short time, we can all do our bit to pro­tect wild­life and loc­al farm anim­als, par­tic­u­larly if we own a dog. April to August is breed­ing sea­son for ground-nest­ing birds – everything from farm­land waders such as oyster­catch­ers and cur­lews to caper­cail­lie in our wood­lands – and they are very sens­it­ive to dis­turb­ance. Spring is also lamb­ing sea­son, and preg­nant ewes and new-born lambs are par­tic­u­larly vul­ner­able to dogs run­ning loose. That’s why we’re ask­ing every­one to keep their dogs on a lead or under close con­trol when around live­stock, and in areas with ground-nest­ing birds (keep an eye out for loc­al signs and guid­ance). 6 cairn spring 2024 Fire man­age­ment con­sulta­tion There’s still time to tell us which, if any, of the fol­low­ing recre­ation­al fire options you prefer:

1. No fire byelaw, but enhanced com­mu­nic­a­tion and education
2. Fire byelaw at times of high fire risk
3. A year-round fire byelaw Scan the QR code or vis­it cairngorms​.co​.uk/​fires by Wed­nes­day 17 April. Burn­ing issue The risk – and poten­tial impacts of wild­fires in the Cairngorms is increas­ing and we want to hear your views about what should be done about it. Over the next few weeks, res­id­ents, organ­isa­tions and oth­ers with a pas­sion for the Nation­al Park are being asked to take part in a con­sulta­tion on fire man­age­ment, includ­ing the poten­tial intro­duc­tion of fire byelaws. We heard from many con­cerned res­id­ents fol­low­ing the pro­longed dry spell in early sum­mer last year, and this con­sulta­tion is your chance to make your voice heard. We have out­lined three poten­tial ways for­ward; how­ever, the Park Author­ity does not have a pre­ferred option as part of this pro­cess. Instead, we are keen to gath­er feed­back from a range of dif­fer­ent per­spect­ives to shape our long-term plans.

In your com­munity Dis­til­lery giv­en green light Plans for a new £20m whisky dis­til­lery at Lag­gan have been giv­en the go-ahead by the Park Authority’s Plan­ning Com­mit­tee. Hav­ing out­grown their cur­rent facil­ity near Kin­gussie, Spey­side Dis­til­lers Com­pany Ltd applied for plan­ning per­mis­sion for a new dis­til­lery and asso­ci­ated infra­struc­ture near the Spey Dam, bring­ing all aspects of their pro­cess togeth­er while retain­ing their con­nec­tion to the River Spey. In addi­tion to the dis­til­lery itself, the devel­op­ment includes a mar­ket­ing suite, power house, offices and ware­houses, mean­ing that the com­pany will be able to mature whisky loc­ally. The devel­op­ment also secures a num­ber of skilled jobs in the area. Open house The annu­al Rur­al Hous­ing Con­fer­ence was hos­ted in the Cairngorms for the very first time this Feb­ru­ary. The event brought togeth­er del­eg­ates from the pub­lic and private sec­tors, as well as com­munit­ies from across Scot­land, to explore solu­tions for deliv­er­ing rur­al hous­ing and devel­op­ment in Scot­land. Mak­ing plans Coun­cil­lor Chris Beat­tie – the Angus Coun­cil rep­res­ent­at­ive on the Park Author­ity board – has taken over as Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Con­vener fol­low­ing the depar­ture of Dr Gaen­er Rodger. Recent plan­ning approvals include a new foot­path link­ing Brae­mar and Bal­later, and a farm shop and café at Logie Cold­stone. Sus­tained suc­cess The Cairngorms Nation­al Park has again been recog­nised at a European level for pro­mot­ing and achiev­ing sus­tain­able tour­ism by the EURO­PARC Fed­er­a­tion, the rep­res­ent­at­ive body for European pro­tec­ted areas. Assessors praised the com­mit­ment to part­ner­ship work­ing, quick response to Cov­id-19 and breadth of pub­lic engage­ment. EURO­PARC cult qual ERTI­FIC­ATE Fe 3, 2, 1… action! The Park Author­ity is work­ing with com­munit­ies to refresh their com­munity action plans. The pro­cess iden­ti­fies key envir­on­ment­al, eco­nom­ic, social and cul­tur­al pri­or­it­ies. Com­munit­ies agree a list of actions to take for­ward with part­ners, which also helps focus fund­ing applic­a­tions on the areas that mat­ter most. For more info call Fiona McIn­ally on 01479 873 535. spring 2024 cairn 7

In brief Way bet­ter A new foot­path on the Spey­side Way has been com­pleted, help­ing walk­ers avoid a busy part of the pub­lic road between Kin­craig and Insh Church. The pro­ject was driv­en by the Kin­craig and Vicin­ity Com­munity Coun­cil and received £45,000 of fund­ing from the Park Author­ity. Use your LOAF Do you want to help people enjoy the Cairngorms respons­ibly? If so, the Cairngorms Loc­al Out­door Access For­um are look­ing for new mem­bers. The for­um, which meets three times a year, advises the Park Author­ity on mat­ters relat­ing to out­door access. Email outdoor@​cairngorms.​co.​uk for more inform­a­tion before Fri­day 17 May. Equal to the task In the sum­mer edi­tion of Cairn we invited applic­ants to join our Equal­ity Advis­ory Pan­el, help­ing guide and advise us on how we can best serve mar­gin­al­ised and under-rep­res­en­ted groups. Fol­low­ing a huge response, we’re delighted to wel­come sev­en new mem­bers to the group: Shreo­shi, Keith, Kate, Micah, Joanna, Mari­ana and Mar­isa. Find out more by scan­ning the QR code. Find­ing their voice The Cairngorms Youth Action Team and the Youth Loc­al Action Group have been to Holyrood recently, as mem­bers of the Scot­tish Rur­al and Islands Youth Par­lia­ment. Youth Action mem­bers Ellie Moore, Bob Cain and lona Kel­las were in Edin­burgh along­side 30 oth­er young people from across rur­al Scot­land, present­ing the demands of the Youth Par­lia­ment to First Min­is­ter Humza Yousaf, the Per­man­ent Sec­ret­ary and vari­ous Cab­in­et Sec­ret­ar­ies. The group’s 10 demands were agreed fol­low­ing the first ever meet­ing of the Rur­al and Islands Youth Par­lia­ment in Novem­ber, and included action on top­ics such as the envir­on­ment, diversity, afford­able hous­ing and men­tal health. Mairi Gougeon MSP agreed to act as the young people’s spokes­per­son and led a par­lia­ment­ary debate on their demands, which met with cross- party sup­port. Many MSPs com­men­ted on the chron­ic issue of age­ing pop­u­la­tions in rur­al Scot­land and the need to work with young people to address this prob­lem. The Youth Par­lia­ment will con­tin­ue work­ing with the Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment over the com­ing months to explore many of these issues in more detail. 8 cairn spring 2024

Nature news Good natured The Cairngorms Trust, a small char­ity which pro­motes sus­tain­able and com­munity-led devel­op­ment through­out the Nation­al Park, has awar­ded 13 pro­jects over £106,000 as part of its Nature Resi­li­ence Fund 2023 – 24. The fund focuses on pro­jects that pro­tect and restore hab­it­ats, con­serve wild­life and pro­mote eco­lo­gic­al sus­tain­ab­il­ity in the region. This year’s suc­cess­ful pro­jects include wild­flower pol­lin­at­or hab­it­at cre­ation, tree plant­ing, pond cre­ation and bumble­bee con­ser­va­tion. For more inform­a­tion and to sup­port the Trust’s work vis­it cairngorm​strust​.org​.uk Lek-king at Bal­mor­al The caper­cail­lie mat­ing ritu­al, or ​‘lek’, is one of nature’s won­ders but, with few­er than 600 caper­cail­lie now left in Scot­land, it is an offence to dis­turb them dur­ing the mat­ing sea­son. How­ever, thanks to a new ​‘vir­tu­al lek’ exper­i­ence at Bal­mor­al Estate, vis­it­ors will now be able to exper­i­ence lekking caper­cail­lie up-close on a huge, high- defin­i­tion screen. The exper­i­ence is free for estate vis­it­ors and has been delivered as part of the Cairngorms Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject, fun­ded by The Nation­al Lot­tery Her­it­age Fund. Food for thought A thriv­ing agri­cul­ture industry is cru­cial to the Nation­al Park, not just for the eco­nomy but the long- term health of our envir­on­ment. It’s for this reas­on that the Park Author­ity wel­comes the rekind­ling of a Cairngorms Farm­ers’ and Crofters’ Group. The group was formed in light of some dis­con­tent around how the Park Author­ity engages with the sec­tor, includ­ing on the rein­tro­duc­tion of beavers. Over 80 group mem­bers met with Park Author­ity staff in Janu­ary to express their con­cerns. Whilst agree­ment wasn’t reached on all issues, the meet­ing provided an oppor­tun­ity to come togeth­er to see how we can deliv­er for nature, cli­mate and loc­al agri­cul­tur­al busi­nesses. Grant Moir, Chief Exec­ut­ive of the Park Author­ity, said: ​“Farm­ers and crofters are very much part of the land­scape here in the Nation­al Park and we are com­mit­ted to work­ing closely with the group to find fur­ther com­mon ground.” As well as work­ing with the new group, the Park Author­ity con­tin­ues to fund work on farms through­out the Nation­al Park. Over the past two years, £180,000 of fund­ing has been awar­ded to around 60 farms (40 farm­ers) for activ­it­ies such as wader and goose man­age­ment, car­bon audits, dry stone dyke res­tor­a­tion and mob graz­ing. For more go to cairngorms​.co​.uk/ food-for-thought or scan the QR code. spring 2024 cairn 9

Nature news Columbia Want to see our new neigh­bours? Check out the new Beaver Trail at Rothiemurchus Estate, com­ing soon. Quite a catch A river’s catch­ment is not only a vital source of water but also an import­ant hab­it­at for wild­life, and the River South Esk is no excep­tion. The River South Esk Catch­ment Part­ner­ship has been awar­ded £1.4m from Scot­tish Government’s Nature Res­tor­a­tion Fund, man­aged by NatureScot, to enhance this import­ant area of the Angus Glens. Pro­ject work begins this year includ­ing wood­land expan­sion, wet­land cre­ation and river res­tor­a­tion at a scale unseen before in Angus. The part­ner­ship are hold­ing a series of con­sulta­tion events to gath­er views from res­id­ents – vis­it the​river​southesk​.org for more inform­a­tion. Beavers are back The first beavers to be trans­lo­cated to the Cairngorms are set­tling into their new home after arriv­ing in the Nation­al Park in Decem­ber. A pair was released on Rothiemurchus, with Min­is­ter Lor­na Slater there to offer a help­ing hand. A fur­ther pair was released the same day on land owned by Wild­land Cairngorms Ltd, fol­lowed by a fam­ily at the same loc­a­tion in early Janu­ary. This is the first out of range trans­lo­ca­tion in Scot­land and sees the return of beavers to the area for 10 cairn spring 2024 the first time in around 400 years. By chan­ging and re-nat­ur­al­ising the land­scape around them, beavers can help com­bat cli­mate change and boost biod­iversity. To min­im­ise any pos­sible stress to the anim­als, the beavers were released with a lim­ited num­ber of people present. Both the beavers and their wider hab­it­at will now be closely mon­itored by the Park Authority’s Beaver Officer and ranger ser­vice. A man­age­ment and mit­ig­a­tion plan is also in place to min­im­ise neg­at­ive impacts on neigh­bour­ing land­hold­ings. For more inform­a­tion see cairngorms​.co​.uk/​b​e​avers

Nature news Cat tracks Fol­low­ing the release of wild­cats into the Cairngorms Con­nect land­scape in June, the Sav­ing Wild­cats team have been track­ing their move­ments using GPS radio col­lars. Of the 19 wild­cats released, 17 have stayed with­in the wider pro­ject area in Badenoch and Strath­spey. While some indi­vidu­als have begun to settle in spe­cif­ic loc­a­tions, most are still mov­ing about reg­u­larly, scop­ing out dif­fer­ent areas of hab­it­at. One has even trav­elled over the Cairngorm plat­eau to Mar Lodge estate in Deeside, cross­ing sev­er­al Mun­ros and cov­er­ing 30 kilo­metres in three days. The cats are typ­ic­ally using a mix­ture of rough grass­land, mixed wood­land and river or stream edges, which provide prey such as mice and voles, as well as cov­er to hide from poten­tial threats, includ­ing people and dogs. For more inform­a­tion con­tact the Sav­ing Wild­cats team on wildcats@​rzss.​org.​uk Rare insects spot­ted Rare dragon­flies have been dis­covered in Deeside as part of a sur­vey at the Nation­al Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate. The iri­des­cent north­ern emer­ald dragon­fly was recor­ded for the first time in Deeside, whilst the brightly col­oured azure hawker dragon­fly (pic­tured right) was recor­ded in the area for only the second time. Just a few weeks earli­er, the shin­ing guest ant was spot­ted fur­ther down the glen for the first time in a dec­ade. The spe­cies is so called because it makes its home in wood ant nests, des­pite being about a third of their size! You don’t have to be an expert to spot rare spe­cies. Any­one can get involved by down­load­ing Look Wild, a free nature ID app that iden­ti­fies plants and anim­als for you and con­trib­utes to a nation­wide cit­izen sci­ence pro­ject, led by UK nation­al parks. Points of view Do you have a favour­ite view in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park? We’re map­ping the spe­cial land­scape qual­it­ies of the Cairngorms to help us bet­ter under­stand how com­munit­ies per­ceive, exper­i­ence and value the land­scapes here in the Nation­al Park. Wheth­er it’s rugged moun­tain views or a sense of peace, we’d love to know what you think and what makes it spe­cial. Share your ​‘best view’ using our inter­act­ive map­ping tool and you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 vouch­er. spring 2024 cairn 11

Busi­ness sup­port in the Nation­al Park Tak­ing care of busi­ness ​“I’m keen to hear from as many busi­nesses as pos­sible – mem­bers and non-mem­bers to ensure we under­stand their pri­or­it­ies and that they’re rep­res­en­ted.” Craig Mills, Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship 12 cairn spring 2024 There are more than 1,000 busi­nesses in the Nation­al Park, from man­u­fac­tur­ing and con­struc­tion to land man­age­ment, tour­ism and retail. We caught up with Graeme Low of Grow­Biz and Craig Mills of the Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship to learn more about what sup­port is out there for loc­al employ­ers. ​“I think one of the most spe­cial things about the busi­ness com­munity in the Nation­al Park is its diversity,” says Craig Mills, who recently took over as CEO of the Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship, the cham­ber of com­merce for the region. ​“From accom­mod­a­tion pro­viders to food and drink, farm­ing to activ­ity oper­at­ors and everything in between – we’ve got a lot to offer here for both loc­als and vis­it­ors.” The Busi­ness Part­ner­ship, which has around 400 mem­bers, runs a vari­ety of events through­out the year, includ­ing net­work­ing oppor­tun­it­ies, work­shops and an annu­al con­fer­ence, as well as host­ing the des­tin­a­tion site Vis​it​Cairngorms​.com ​“So much is chan­ging both here in the Cairngorms and in the wider eco­nomy, and it can be dif­fi­cult espe­cially for small busi­nesses to keep track of everything and have their voices heard. As I start my new role, I’m keen to hear from as many busi­nesses as pos­sible — mem­bers and non- mem­bers — to ensure we under­stand their pri­or­it­ies and that they’re rep­res­en­ted when it comes to new legis­la­tion such as the tour­ism levy.” As with most parts of rur­al Scot­land, busi­nesses in the Nation­al Park are typ­ic­ally small, with 87% employ­ing few­er than 10 people. This can make deal­ing with chal­lenges such as staff avail­ab­il­ity, skills short­ages and avail­able hous­ing par­tic­u­larly dif­fi­cult, some­thing which Graeme Low and his organ­isa­tion Grow­Biz know all about. Grow­Biz was foun­ded in Perth­shire in 2007 to help loc­al people build busi­nesses and enter­prises for them­selves. They offer sup­port ser­vices across all of rur­al Scot­land, includ­ing the Cairngorms, and have sup­por­ted 2,300 indi­vidu­als, busi­nesses and social enter­prises in the past five years.

$10 Look­ing for sup­port? ​“Start­ing up and run­ning a busi­ness is reward­ing but can also bring a very unique set of chal­lenges,” says Graeme. ​“We’re here to offer free, non-judge­ment­al, prac­tic­al help and advice to people, includ­ing on fund­ing, busi­ness plan­ning, mar­ket­ing, ment­or­ing and train­ing and devel­op­ment. ​“What’s unique about Grow­Biz is the range of sup­port on offer and also the events that we run through­out the year. Top­ics range from digit­al skills to essen­tials for start-ups, net­work­ing and cli­mate action.” ​“The jour­ney to net zero will be an even more sig­ni­fic­ant aspect of the busi­ness sup­port we offer over the com­ing years.” Graeme Low, Grow­Biz The Park Author­ity provides annu­al fund­ing to the Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship, Grow­Biz and a num­ber of oth­er organ­isa­tions to sup­port loc­al busi­nesses, provide train­ing and devel­op­ment oppor­tun­it­ies, and help the eco­nomy of the Nation­al Park diver­si­fy and thrive. One key area of focus is the nature and cli­mate crisis, with the Cairngorms aim­ing to become the the UK’s first net zero nation­al park. In 2021 the Busi­ness Part­ner­ship and the Park Author­ity signed up to Tour­ism Declares, an ini­ti­at­ive that sup­ports busi­nesses, organ­isa­tions and indi­vidu­als to reduce their car­bon emis­sions. For Grow­Biz, too, this has become an increas­ingly import­ant area of work. ​“Under­stand­ing how busi­ness own­ers can play a part whilst also main­tain­ing a thriv­ing busi­ness is really import­ant,” explains Graeme. ​“The jour­ney to net zero will be an even more sig­ni­fic­ant aspect of the busi­ness sup­port we offer over the com­ing years.” Whatever chal­lenges emerge over the next few years, it’s encour­aging that such a strong sup­port net­work exists to help busi­nesses and loc­al com­munit­ies thrive, both now and in the future. Busi­ness Gate­way Expert advice and guid­ance on run­ning your busi­ness. Τ. 01463 896 831 bgate​way​.com/​h​i​g​hland Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship Cham­ber of Com­merce for the Cairngorms region. Τ. 01479 810 200 cairngorm​scham​ber​.com Cairngorms Trust Char­ity sup­port­ing sus­tain­able and com­munity-led pro­jects. Τ. 01479 870 543 cairngorm​strust​.org​.uk Grow­Biz Sup­port and advice for small busi­nesses and social enter­prises. Τ. 01828 627 790 grow​biz​.co​.uk spring 2024 cairn 13

Cairngorms 2030 Put­ting the power to tackle the nature and cli­mate crisis in the hands of the people of the UK’s largest nation­al park. Through 20 long-term pro­jects we will: Become the first nation­al park in the UK to reach net zero Restore 3,500 hec­tares of car­bon-stor­ing peat­land Devel­op the world’s first out­door demen­tia resource centre Trans­form the way people get around the Cairngorms Pion­eer nature- friendly farm­ing and green fin­ance approaches Foster last­ing rela­tion­ships with under-rep­res­en­ted com­munit­ies Cre­ate 1,500 foot­ball pitches worth of new wood­land Pre­scribe nature on the NHS to improve health and well­being Empower com­munit­ies to shape the future of their area Want to be part of it? Restore three icon­ic rivers in the Park: the Spey, Dee and Esk Head to cairngorms​.co​.uk/​c​a​i​r​n​g​o​r​m​s2030 to find out how. 14 cairn spring 2024

Cairngorms voices In con­ver­sa­tion with Sean Wil­li­am­son Restor­ing peat­land will be essen­tial in help­ing the Cairngorms become the UK’s first net zero nation­al park. We talked to loc­al con­tract­or Sean Wil­li­am­son, of Wil­li­am­son Ground­works in Grant­own, to find out how he became involved in peat­land res­tor­a­tion pro­jects. Why is it import­ant for loc­al con­tract­ors to get involved in peat­land res­tor­a­tion? I am pleased the oppor­tun­it­ies are there for loc­al con­tract­ors to train and tool up for this type of work rather than bring­ing in con­tract­ors from oth­er parts of the coun­try. Peat­land res­tor­a­tion is all about help­ing to slow and reverse the effects of the cli­mate crisis and so it makes sense to train loc­al people rather than have work­ers and machinery trav­el­ling up to the Cairngorms, which would obvi­ously have a con­sid­er­able car­bon foot­print. What are some of the peat­land pro­jects you’ve worked on so far? Our first peat­land res­tor­a­tion pro­ject involved deliv­er­ing some nov­el tech­nique tri­als in Glen­fe­sh­ie in 2022. Fol­low­ing that we worked with the Park Author­ity under the New Entrant Scheme (which gives exist­ing con­tract­ors the skills needed to deliv­er peat­land work) on a pro­ject at Glen­muick in autumn last year. That was fol­lowed by a com­plex pro­ject on Allar­gue Estate. We will also be deliv­er­ing a Park Author­ity-fun­ded peat­land pro­ject with RSPB Scot­land at Aber­nethy over the com­ing months. What impacts do you hope peat­land res­tor­a­tion pro­jects will have in the Nation­al Park? Restor­ing dam­aged peat­land obvi­ously has sig­ni­fic­ant bene­fits to the envir­on­ment, but I think what is OFTRAK SOFTRAK import­ant on top of that is the jobs that will be cre­ated loc­ally. There are going to be more oppor­tun­it­ies for this type of work in the com­ing years and that will provide new work oppor­tun­it­ies for people in our com­munit­ies. These pro­jects could also play a part in help­ing the growth of loc­al busi­nesses – it’s great that con­tract­ors in the Cairngorms are being giv­en the oppor­tun­ity to diver­si­fy the ser­vices they offer and upskill their team. All this will have a pos­it­ive impact on our eco­nomy in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. We plan to restore 3,500 hec­tares of peat­land as part of Cairngorms 2030, trap­ping thou­sands of tonnes of car­bon. Scan the QR code to find out more. spring 2024 cairn 15