Cairngorms Nature Strategy Group meeting notes and actions - December 2025

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Cairngorms Nature Strategy Group meet­ing Park Author­ity office, Grant­own-on-Spey and on Teams Wed­nes­day 12 Novem­ber | 1pm – 3pm

Attendees Alice Fogg (Vol­un­tary Action in Badenoch and Strath­spey), Anna­bel Dav­id­son Knight (Scot­tish Land Com­mis­sion), Anne Elli­ott (NatureScot), Car­o­lyn Robertson (Park Author­ity), Claire Smith (RSPB Scot­land), Ian Wilson (Nation­al Farm­ers Uni­on Scot­land), Kelly-Anne Demp­sey (River South Esk Catch­ment Part­ner­ship), Mat­thew Hawkins (Park Author­ity), Neil Gunn (Wild­life Estates Scot­land), Pete Cos­grove (Park Author­ity Board Mem­ber), Roger Knight (Spey Catch­ment Ini­ti­at­ive), Sarah Hen­shall (Park Author­ity), Steve Lid­del (Wild­Land), Susan Cook­s­ley (Dee Catch­ment Partnership)

Apo­lo­gies Alistair Whyte (Plant­life Scot­land), Nic­ola Melville (Forestry and Land Scot­land), Deborah Long (Scot­tish Envir­on­ment Link), Chris Don­ald (NatureScot), Dav­id Heth­er­ing­ton (Park Author­ity), Helen Senn (Roy­al Zoolo­gic­al Soci­ety of Scot­land), Lor­raine Hawkins (River Dee Trust), Wil­li­am Hawes (Dur­rell Wild­life), Shaila Rao (Nation­al Trust for Scot­land), Sydney Hende­r­son (Cairngorms Connect)

1. Pre­vi­ous meet­ing actions Actions from the last meet­ing were reviewed:
   • No fur­ther feed­back was received on the updated word­ing for the group’s respons­ib­il­it­ies, so these will now be pub­lished on the Nation­al Park website.
   • A Vis­ion Sub­group was con­vened to help draft poten­tial vis­ions for the new Nature Action Plan to be reviewed in the meeting.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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• An update on the Nature Action Plan was shared with the Cairngorms Upland Advis­ory Group who are keen to con­trib­ute to the Man­aged Uplands chapter.
• A Fresh­wa­ter Sub­group was con­vened and has developed an ini­tial draft of the fresh­wa­ter chapter to be reviewed in the meeting.
• The cur­rent Nature Action Plan remains act­ive and is still described as such on the Nation­al Park web­site until the new Action Plan is pub­lished in 2027.
• An ana­lyse of res­id­ent and vis­it­or sur­vey data, LDP con­sulta­tion data and Loc­al Com­munity Action Plans has been com­pleted to review in the meeting.
• Indic­at­ors for the Cairngorms Nature Index were shared with all mem­bers of the group. Some feed­back has been received and more is welcome.

Actions:

• Car­o­lyn to work with col­leagues to pub­lish the updated word­ing for the group’s respons­ib­il­it­ies on the Nation­al Park website.
• Car­o­lyn to recir­cu­late the indic­at­ors for the Nature Index for final feedback.

1. Vis­ion for the new Cairngorms Nature Action Plan A dis­cus­sion was held on three draft vis­ion state­ments developed by the Vis­ion Sub­group. The fol­low­ing key points were made:

   • A clear and expli­cit link to com­munit­ies and people is essential.
   • The vis­ion must recog­nise that people are a fun­da­ment­al part of nature and the nat­ur­al sys­tems we depend on.
   • The vis­ion should clearly sig­nal oppor­tun­it­ies for every­one to con­trib­ute to restor­ing nature and the bene­fits to be gained.
   • There was con­sensus around the fol­low­ing draft vision:

   By 2045, as the world con­tin­ues to change, eco­sys­tems in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park — from rivers to forests — will be rich­er in wild­life and bet­ter adap­ted to our chan­ging cli­mate. They will help ensure that clean air, food, and water remain avail­able to us for gen­er­a­tions to come, encour­aging us to make more space for and live in great­er har­mony with nature.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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The fol­low­ing sug­ges­tions were made for refin­ing the draft vision:

• Strengthen the con­nec­tion between people and the land.
• Shorten the word­ing slightly.
• Avoid the term ​“eco­sys­tem” to keep lan­guage accessible.
• Explore altern­at­ive word­ing for ​“encour­aging”.

Action:

• Car­o­lyn to update the draft vis­ion based on the feed­back shared.

1. Cairngorms Nature Net­work The group dis­cussed the pro­posed approach for estab­lish­ing a Cairngorms Nature Net­work, build­ing on the Nature Net­works Evid­ence Paper developed to inform the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan and pub­lic engage­ment on the paper which took place earli­er in the year. As the Nature Net­work will be a key com­pon­ent of the new Cairngorms Nature Action Plan, sev­er­al ques­tions were posed to guide the dis­cus­sion, and the fol­low­ing key points were made by members:

Clar­ity and language It was noted that some of the ter­min­o­logy used in the draft Nature Net­work mater­i­als (e.g., ​“fens”) may not res­on­ate widely. Using more famil­i­ar, every­day lan­guage could help the Nature Net­work feel more access­ible to com­munit­ies. It was also sug­ges­ted that ​“man­aged grass­lands” is used rather than ​“man­aged low­land grass­lands,” as this bet­ter reflects the land­scape of the Nation­al Park.

Role of communities It was strongly emphas­ised that com­munit­ies will play a cent­ral role in deliv­er­ing the Nature Net­work. Includ­ing case stud­ies of com­munity involve­ment and a call for sites will help demon­strate how loc­al people can con­trib­ute and benefit.

Net­work maps It was noted that the spe­cies-rich grass­land maps are dif­fi­cult to dis­tin­guish where sim­il­ar col­ours over­lap and grass­land map­ping, includ­ing satel­lite ana­lys­is and ground truth­ing, needs to be com­pleted to build a more accur­ate picture.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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• Con­nec­tion to wider nature net­works The group dis­cussed how the Cairngorms Nature Net­work con­nects to oth­er region­al and nation­al net­works. While nation­al data helps ensure align­ment, it was felt that the links with oth­er nature net­works could be made clear­er and described in more detail.
• Recre­ation and access It was noted that nature res­tor­a­tion and pub­lic access need to work hand-in- hand. It was recom­men­ded that more detail is included as to how recre­ation­al access may need to adapt along­side nature recov­ery to avoid con­flicts and ensure mutu­al benefits.
• Flex­ib­il­ity and future oppor­tun­it­ies Whilst the Nature Net­work must provide clear dir­ec­tion, it was noted that it must also remain flex­ible enough to incor­por­ate new oppor­tun­it­ies over time. More detail would help cla­ri­fy how this flex­ib­il­ity fits with fund­ing pro­cesses and cri­ter­ia, espe­cially where future pro­jects are not yet defined. It was also noted that there is a need for longer-term (3 – 5 year) fund­ing plans and par­tic­u­lar sup­port for small-scale pro­jects that will con­trib­ute to the net­work but may struggle to access exist­ing (point-based) fund­ing schemes. It was sug­ges­ted that the Nature Net­work doc­u­ment should include inform­a­tion on fund­ing approaches or poten­tially a fun­drais­ing strategy.
• Eco­nom­ic poten­tial It was high­lighted that the Nature Net­work can unlock eco­nom­ic bene­fits, such as help­ing the whisky industry reduce risks linked to water short­ages. It was felt that more expli­cit ref­er­ence needs to be made to the eco­nom­ic bene­fits of the net­work, along­side eco­lo­gic­al, social and cul­tur­al benefits.
• Mon­it­or­ing and updates The Nature Net­work will be reviewed annu­ally in line with the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan. New data­sets will be added and maps updated to track pro­gress and reflect emer­ging evid­ence. This pro­cess should be clearly stated in inform­a­tion about the Nature Network.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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• Links with the Nature Action Plan It was agreed that the new Cairngorms Nature Action Plan should clearly intro­duce both the Nature Net­work and the Nature Index, explain­ing how these tools work togeth­er to guide nature recov­ery in the Nation­al Park and activ­it­ies in the Nature Action Plan.

Actions:

• Dav­id Heth­er­ing­ton (Nature Net­works Man­ager, Park Author­ity) to update the draft Nature Net­works mater­i­als based on the feed­back shared.
• Car­o­lyn to clearly intro­duce both the Nature Net­work and the Nature Index in the Nature Action Plan.

1. Out­line struc­ture for the new Cairngorms Nature Action Plan and draft fresh­wa­ter chapter A draft out­line struc­ture for the next Nature Action Plan was shared ahead of the meet­ing, and mem­bers present felt that it is shap­ing up well and mov­ing in the right dir­ec­tion. A more detailed dis­cus­sion was held on the draft fresh­wa­ter chapter, developed with the Fresh­wa­ter Sub­group. A sug­ges­tion was made to include clear­er ref­er­ence to water tables and the import­ance of main­tain­ing a high­er water table through­out the year. This could poten­tially be included in the chapter’s vis­ion state­ment. It was also strongly emphas­ised that com­munit­ies want to be involved in fresh­wa­ter res­tor­a­tion and should be recog­nised as key part­ners. As the chapter devel­ops, com­munity-led pro­jects — both exist­ing oppor­tun­it­ies iden­ti­fied in Com­munity Action Plans and future pro­jects yet to be defined — will be built in. There was a gen­er­al con­sensus that the chapter needs a bal­ance between well- defined actions, where the evid­ence for what needs to hap­pen is already clear, and more open actions that allow pro­jects to evolve over the life­time of the plan. As draft­ing con­tin­ues, there is also scope to include clear­er times­cales and tar­gets, while ensur­ing expect­a­tions remain real­ist­ic, based on learn­ing from the cur­rent Nature Action Plan.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Action:

• Car­o­lyn to con­tin­ue work­ing with the Fresh­wa­ter Sub­group to devel­op the fresh­wa­ter chapter in response to the feed­back shared.

1. Com­munity pri­or­it­ies A present­a­tion was giv­en sum­mar­ising find­ings from the most recent Nation­al Park Vis­it­or Sur­vey, Res­id­ents and Work­er Sur­vey, and Com­munity Action Plans. The find­ings high­light what mat­ters most to com­munit­ies about the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment, and there­fore what the new Nature Action Plan should aim to address, where pos­sible, and provide solu­tions for. It was noted that Com­munity Action Plans can some­times reflect lim­ited options simply because com­munit­ies may not always be aware of the full range of pos­sib­il­it­ies avail­able to them. Fol­low-up con­ver­sa­tions may there­fore be help­ful to sup­port com­munit­ies in explor­ing wider ambi­tions for nature. It was agreed that all the insights shared will be sum­mar­ised with­in the new Nature Action Plan and reflec­ted in the actions and activ­it­ies wherever possible.

Action:

• Car­o­lyn to draft a chapter for the new Action Plan set­ting out the find­ings shared, leav­ing room to update the chapter as new find­ings emerge.

1. Com­munity bene­fits A present­a­tion was giv­en by Anna­bel Dav­id­son Knight (Com­munity Bene­fits from Nature Adviser, Scot­tish Land Com­mis­sion) to start a dis­cus­sion on how the new Nature Action Plan can help deliv­er com­munity bene­fits. It was emphas­ised that mean­ing­ful com­munity engage­ment is essen­tial to achiev­ing com­munity bene­fits, and that engage­ment must begin early, build trust, and be pro­por­tion­ate to the scale of the project.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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It was high­lighted that identi­fy­ing areas of com­mon ground with­in com­munit­ies is import­ant to ensure effort is tar­geted towards what mat­ters most to the major­ity, while still ensur­ing a range of voices are heard. The dis­cus­sion also con­sidered wheth­er addi­tion­al resource may be needed to sup­port effect­ive engage­ment, draw­ing on learn­ing from Cairngorms 2030. There was broad sup­port for includ­ing a set of prin­ciples in the Nature Action Plan for com­munity bene­fits, incor­por­at­ing com­munity wealth-build­ing approaches such as skills devel­op­ment, edu­ca­tion and job cre­ation and, over time, help­ing to build the capa­city for com­munit­ies to take a more act­ive role in nature res­tor­a­tion. It was noted that com­munity bene­fits will need to be clearly defined with­in the con­text of the Action Plan, with indic­at­ors built in to mon­it­or pro­gress and impact.

Action:

• Car­o­lyn to share a copy of Annabel’s present­a­tion with all members.
• Car­o­lyn to fol­low-up with Anna­bel to explore next steps for draft­ing a defin­i­tion and set of prin­ciples for com­munity bene­fits in the Action Plan.