Nature Action Plan delivers transformative change for the Cairngorms National Park

The completion of the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan 2019 – 2024 marks the end of a groundbreaking chapter in conservation. The final report, published today, reveals that the partnership has had a transformative impact on the UK’s largest National Park. Led by the Park Authority, and partnering with over 40 organisations, land managers, communities and volunteers, the Action Plan has driven forward extensive conservation efforts. This has included securing investment of over £7 million, restoring key habitats on an unprecedented scale and helping some of our rarest species make meaningful strides towards recovery.

The Action Plan set out to deliver against ambitious targets for landscape scale restoration, saving species and involving people, and has exceeded expectations in many key areas. Native woodland cover has been increased by 6,000 hectares, and more than 5,000 hectares of peatland has been restored, benefiting thousands of species, trapping CO₂, improving water quality and reducing flooding risk.

Waterways and wetlands have seen remarkable progress, with over 100 kilometres of river and riparian habitats restored. Projects led by partnerships and organisations in each of the National Park’s major river catchments have used innovative approaches to renaturalise rivers and floodplains. The Strathspey Wetlands and Wader Initiative has worked with farmers, crofters, land managers and volunteers across a massive 9,000 hectares to create and enhance wetlands and wet grasslands, providing essential habitats for wading birds, including lapwing and curlew.

There has been success for some of our most vulnerable species. Pioneering reinforcement and reintroduction work was delivered through partnerships for wildcat, beaver, pine hoverfly and the dark bordered beauty moth, building the National Park’s reputation as one of the UK’s most important places for the nearly 1,200 species of national or international importance that live here.

Andy Ford, Director of Nature and Climate at the Cairngorms National Park Authority, said: “The success of this Action Plan is a testament to the tremendous collaboration that has taken place over the past five years. Cairngorms Nature is a collective effort, with hundreds of organisations and people, including land managers, all making the National Park richer in nature. The Action Plan has driven forward extensive conservation efforts at the speed and scale we know is needed to tackle the twin crises, supported by the significant amount of money brought into the National Park for the people who do all the amazing conservation work, big and small, in the hills, woods, mountains, rivers, moorlands, farms and communities across the whole National Park.”

Each Action Plan we deliver builds on outstanding foundations and hard efforts over previous years. Despite the many successes to date, the National Park still faces significant challenges brought about by the nature and climate crisis. The next Action Plan, which will be going out to consultation and finalised next year, will be even more ambitious as we work together to deliver the National Park Partnership Plan’s ambition for a carbon negative and biodiversity rich National Park with better functioning, better connected and more resilient ecosystems.

You can access the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan 2019 and read the final report on the dedicated page on our website here.