Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Page 1 of 7

Cairngorms Nature Strategy Group meeting

Park Author­ity office, Grant­own-on-Spey and on Teams Wed­nes­day 6 August | 10am – 12noon

Attendees

Alice Fogg (Vol­un­tary Action in Badenoch and Strath­spey), Alis­on Phil­lip (RSPB Scot­land), Anne Elli­ott (NatureScot), Car­o­lyn Robertson (Park Author­ity), Chris Don­ald (NatureScot), Dav­id Heth­er­ing­ton (Park Author­ity), Helen Senn (Roy­al Zoolo­gic­al Soci­ety of Scot­land), Kelly-Anne Demp­sey (River South Esk Catch­ment Part­ner­ship), Lor­raine Hawkins (River Dee Trust), Neil Gunn (Wild­life Estates Scot­land), Pete Cos­grove (Park Author­ity Board Mem­ber), Roger Knight (Spey Catch­ment Ini­ti­at­ive), Shaila Rao (Nation­al Trust for Scot­land), Steve Lid­del (Wild­Land), Susan Cook­s­ley (Dee Catch­ment Part­ner­ship), Sydney Hende­r­son (Cairngorms Con­nect), Wil­li­am Hawes (Dur­rell Wildlife)

Apo­lo­gies

Alis­on Hester (Scot­tish Envir­on­ment, Food and Agri­cul­ture Research Insti­tu­tions), Alistair Whyte (Plant­life Scot­land), Claire Smith (RSPB Scot­land), Colin Edwards (Forestry and Land Scot­land), Deborah Long (Scot­tish Envir­on­ment Link), Ian Wilson (Nation­al Farm­ers Uni­on Scot­land), Sarah Hen­shall (Park Authority)

1. Wel­come and introductions

The meet­ing star­ted with a round of intro­duc­tions as this was the first meet­ing for sev­er­al rep­res­ent­at­ives and the Chair. All mem­bers of the group and their roles are lis­ted on page 7. It was noted that Bug­life has also been invited to join the group.

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Page 2 of 7

2. Actions from the pre­vi­ous meeting

Respons­ib­il­it­ies of the group

Draft respons­ib­il­it­ies and an aim for the group were shared and dis­cussed at the pre­vi­ous meet­ing, and the fol­low­ing points were raised:

Stra­tegic lead­er­ship and over­sight: it was felt these respons­ib­il­it­ies should include help­ing to avoid policy inco­her­ence, includ­ing related to farm­ing and agri­cul­ture. In response, the revised word­ing below was shared:

Lead and shape the devel­op­ment and deliv­ery of the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan 2027 – 2032, ensur­ing align­ment with region­al and nation­al biod­iversity and eco­lo­gic­al res­tor­a­tion goals, while pro­mot­ing coher­ence across rel­ev­ant policies.

Secur­ing invest­ment: it was felt this could include ensur­ing fun­drais­ing oppor­tun­it­ies are not missed and activ­it­ies with­in the Nature Action Plan are not dir­ectly com­pet­ing for the same extern­al fund­ing. In response, the revised word­ing below was shared:

Sup­port fun­drais­ing activ­it­ies for the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan by cul­tiv­at­ing rela­tion­ships with poten­tial donors, con­trib­ut­ing to fund­ing pro­pos­als, and coordin­at­ing efforts to max­im­ise oppor­tun­it­ies and avoid com­pet­i­tion between activ­it­ies in the plan.

Advocacy and pub­lic engage­ment: it was felt these respons­ib­il­it­ies could be strengthened to ensure impact­ful and more dynam­ic engage­ment with com­munit­ies. In response, the revised word­ing below was shared:

Act­ively help to foster mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions with stake­hold­ers at all levels – espe­cially loc­al com­munit­ies — to inspire col­lab­or­a­tion and drive col­lect­ive sup­port for the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan.

Action:

• Mem­bers to share with Car­o­lyn any com­ments on the revised word­ing (in italics).

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Page 3 of 7

Links with land managers

At the pre­vi­ous meet­ing, there was a dis­cus­sion about the import­ance of col­lab­or­at­ing with oth­er groups and for­ums to sup­port effect­ive engage­ment with land man­agers out­with the group. Pete updated the group on his dual role as Chair of both the Cairngorms Upland Advis­ory Group (CUAG) and the Cairngorms Nature Strategy Group (CNSG). He will work to strengthen links between CUAG and CNSG, as well as with the Cairngorms Agri­cul­tur­al Advis­ory Group (CAAG).

More inform­a­tion on CAAG here: https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​t​h​e​-​n​a​t​i​o​n​a​l​-​p​a​r​k​/​t​h​e​-​park- author­ity/ad­vis­ory-for­ums-and-groups/­cairngorms-agri­cul­tur­al-advis­ory-group

More inform­a­tion on CUAG here: https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​t​h​e​-​n​a​t​i​o​n​a​l​-​p​a​r​k​/​t​h​e​-​park- author­ity/ad­vis­ory-for­ums-and-groups/­cairngorms-upland-advis­ory-group

The homepage for the CNSG is here: https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​t​h​e​-​n​a​t​i​o​n​a​l​-​p​a​r​k​/the- park-author­ity/ad­vis­ory-for­ums-and-groups/­cairngorms-nature-strategy-group

Draft vis­ion for the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan

A draft vis­ion, aim and out­comes were shared and dis­cussed at the pre­vi­ous meet­ing and shared again in this meet­ing for the bene­fit of new members.

It was agreed that the draft vis­ion — Restore and regen­er­ate biod­iversity in the Nation­al Park by 2045 — needs to be developed. Some mem­bers felt, for example, that it could be more ambi­tious, inspir­ing, address the cli­mate and biod­iversity crisis, include people and be artic­u­lated more clearly.

The fol­low­ing mem­bers volun­teered to form a tem­por­ary sub-group to devel­op some altern­at­ive vis­ions for the wider group to con­sider: Kelly-Ann, Sydney, Steve, Anne, Roger, Alice

Action:

• Car­o­lyn to co-ordin­ate a ses­sion with the ​‘vis­ion sub-group’.

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Page 4 of 7

3. Timeline for the new Cairngorms Nature Action Plan

A revised timeline was shared not­ing that it applies to both the new Cairngorms Nature Action Plan and the new Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan. Both plans will be pub­lished in 2027 fol­low­ing a pub­lic consultation.

Pre-engage­ment and drafting

A draft fresh­wa­ter chapter, which will serve as a struc­tur­al tem­plate for all oth­er chapters in the plan, along with a con­tents list for the full plan, will be developed and shared with the group in Septem­ber. The fol­low­ing mem­bers volun­teered to form a tem­por­ary sub-group to draft the fresh­wa­ter chapter: Helen, Anne, Lor­raine, Roger, Kelly-Ann, and Susan. Fresh­wa­ter has been chosen as the ini­tial focus because that sec­tion of the Cairngorms Nature Index (CNI) is now ready to be used.

A sug­ges­tion was made to con­sider using the IUCN Threats Clas­si­fic­a­tion Scheme along­side the Cairngorms Nature Index (CNI) to help cat­egor­ise the drivers of decline. It was also noted that, as part of draft­ing the fresh­wa­ter chapter, there should be a review of pro­gress on fresh­wa­ter-related actions from the pre­vi­ous plan, to estab­lish what has already been achieved.

The group dis­cussed the value of using exist­ing insights from sources such as the Nation­al Park res­id­ent and vis­it­or sur­veys, the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (LDP) and Loc­al Com­munity Action Plans. These insights can help identi­fy what mat­ters most to com­munit­ies to inform the Nature Action Plan. It was noted that it’s import­ant to acknow­ledge what res­id­ents and vis­it­ors have pre­vi­ously shared, includ­ing their wor­ries and con­cerns, to help people see the value of the Nature Action Plan in deliv­er­ing solutions.

It was noted that it’s import­ant to ensure align­ment and enable read across between the Nature Action Plan and oth­er strategies, such as spe­cies action plans and poten­tially broad­er ini­ti­at­ives like 30×30.

There was an acknow­ledge­ment that the Nature Action Plan must be policy-driv­en but resi­li­ent to polit­ic­al change and it must focus on both people and nature. With an elec­tion next spring and the poten­tial for shift­ing agen­das, it was noted that issues related to water and people are likely to stay prom­in­ent and should remain cent­ral to the plan. Sug­ges­tions were made about design­ing the plan to be mod­u­lar, mak­ing it more adapt­able over time and ensur­ing the plan gal­van­ises part­ners, includ­ing pub­lic agen­cies, regard­less of polit­ic­al shifts.

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Page 5 of 7

A dis­cus­sion was had about the need to identi­fy the key stake­hold­ers to involve dur­ing the pre-engage­ment phase and being clear on the pur­pose of that engage­ment. It was sug­ges­ted that advice could be sought from CUAG and CAAG — the key ques­tion being: How does their sec­tor want to be engaged?

Lastly, it was cla­ri­fied that the 2019 ‑2024 Cairngorms Nature Action Plan remains cur­rent until the new plan is launched in 2027.

Actions:

• Pete to ask CUAG and liaise with the Chair of CAAG for advice re how to engage the sec­tors they rep­res­ent with the Nature Action Plan, pri­or to pub­lic consultation.

• Car­o­lyn to co-ordin­ate a ses­sion with the ​‘fresh­wa­ter sub-group’ to begin draft­ing the fresh­wa­ter chapter.

• Car­o­lyn to work with the Park Author­ity Comms Team to make it clear on the Park Author­ity web­site that the 2019 — 2024 Cairngorms Nature Action Plan remains cur­rent until the new plan is launched in 2027

• Car­o­lyn to work with col­leagues to ana­lyse the res­id­ent and vis­it­or sur­vey data and LDP con­sulta­tion data held by the Park Author­ity, and work with VABS to review Loc­al Com­munity Action Plans.

• Car­o­lyn to share the res­ults of the ana­lys­is above with the group to identi­fy any gaps.

---

4. Cairngorms Nature Index

The group received an update on the Cairngorms Nature Index (CNI), build­ing on the intro­duc­tion from the pre­vi­ous meet­ing. The final draft CNI is still sched­uled for pub­lic­a­tion in Decem­ber, with the full CNI ready to sup­port devel­op­ment of the Nature Action Plan from February.

The indic­at­ors are in the pro­cess of being shared with CUAG, CAAG and will be shared with the group to identi­fy any major con­cerns or poten­tial data issues or opportunities.

One mem­ber flagged that data shar­ing remains a chal­lenge, and there was a sug­ges­tion that the group could poten­tially play a role in address­ing data gov­ernance and improv­ing data-shar­ing practices.

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Page 6 of 7

Actions:

• Car­o­lyn to share the draft CNI indic­at­ors with the group

• Mem­bers to share with Car­o­lyn any major con­cerns or poten­tial data issues or oppor­tun­it­ies regard­ing the indicators.

---

5. AOB

A dis­cus­sion was had about wild­fires fol­low­ing the recent wild­fire on Cawdor, Muck­rack, and Tul­can. It was noted that the Nature Action Plan provides oppor­tun­it­ies to com­ple­ment and strengthen wild­fire man­age­ment, e.g. the cre­ation of ​‘fire ponds’, and that meta pop­u­la­tion man­age­ment is a mit­ig­a­tion for wildfires.

A mon­it­or­ing meth­od­o­logy is being developed by the Park Author­ity to assess hab­it­at recov­ery. It will take into account burn intens­ity, hab­it­at type, land man­age­ment prac­tices and peat­land res­tor­a­tion sites that exper­i­enced fire dam­age. Dis­cus­sions are also ongo­ing between the Park Author­ity, landown­ers and NatureScot about wider mon­it­or­ing to enable more informed decision-mak­ing post-wild­fire and the research paper below was highlighted.

Fire Sever­ity and Hab­it­at Type Determ­ine Veget­a­tion Change and Regen­er­a­tion Time Fol­low­ing Wild­fires in Scot­tish Uplands

After extens­ive pub­lic con­sulta­tion and stake­hold­er input, the Park Author­ity sub­mit­ted word­ing to Scot­tish Min­is­ters for a sea­son­al fire byelaw in the Nation­al Park and in June, the Park Author­ity Board approved an Integ­rated Wild­life Man­age­ment Plan for the Nation­al Park here: https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​d​o​c​u​m​e​n​t​s​/​i​n​t​e​g​r​a​t​e​d​-​w​i​l​d​f​i​r​e​-​m​a​n​a​g​e​ment- plan-approved

---

6. Next meeting

The next meet­ing will be in Octo­ber (date TBC) with a focus on review­ing the draft fresh­wa­ter chapter and the con­tents list for the full plan.

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Page 7 of 7

Cairngorms Nature Strategy Group members

• Alice Fogg — Chief Officer, Vol­un­tary Action in Badenoch and Strathspey

• Alis­on Hester — Seni­or Sci­ent­ist and Research Fel­low, Scot­tish Envir­on­ment, Food and Agri­cul­ture Research Institutions

• Alistair Whyte — Head of Plant­life Scot­land, Plant­life Scotland

• Anne Elli­ott — Oper­a­tions Officer, NatureScot

• Car­o­lyn Robertson — Cairngorms Nature Man­ager, Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

• Chris Don­ald — Head of Oper­a­tions, Cent­ral High­lands, NatureScot

• Claire Smith — Seni­or Con­ser­va­tion Officer, South High­lands & Cairngorms, RSPB Scotland

• Colin Edwards — Envir­on­ment Man­ager, Forestry and Land Scotland

• Deborah Long — Chief Officer, Scot­tish Envir­on­ment Link

• Helen Senn — Head of Con­ser­va­tion and Sci­ence Pro­grammes, RZSS

• Ian Wilson — Region­al Man­ager High­lands, Nation­al Farm­ers Uni­on Scotland

• Kelly Ann Demp­sey — Part­ner­ship Man­ager, River South Esk Catch­ment Partnership

• Lor­raine Hawkins — Trust Man­ager, River Dee Trust

• Neil Gunn — Pro­ject Man­ager, Wild­life Estates Scotland

• Pete Cos­grove — Park Author­ity Board Mem­ber (Chair)

• Roger Knight — Dir­ect­or, Spey Catch­ment Initiative

• Sarah Hen­shall — Head of Con­ser­va­tion, Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

• Shaila Rao — Con­ser­va­tion Man­ager, Nation­al Trust for Scotland

• Steve Liddle — Dir­ect­or of Nature, WildLand

• Susan Cook­s­ley — Part­ner­ship Man­ager, Dee Catch­ment Partnership

• Sydney Hende­r­son — Inter­im Pro­gramme Man­ager, Cairngorms Connect

• Wil­li­am Hawes — Pro­gramme Dir­ect­or Scot­land, Dur­rell Wildlife