Grantee: Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries Trust

Duration: Jan 2024 – Jan 2025

Background

Riparian woodlands – that run adjacent to streams and rivers – play a vital role in maintaining river health. Through preventing bank erosion, creating deadwood, and supplying nutrients, riparian woodlands provide habitat for a wide variety of organisms. The endangered Atlantic Salmon, for example, rely on riparian woodlands to provide shade in hot summer months, and boost invertebrate populations – an essential food source for juvenile salmon.

These crucial ‘Riverwoods’ have been fragmented to isolated areas, causing rivers to erode and biodiversity to decline, threatening keystone species such as the salmon. Restoring these woodlands offers an opportunity for ecosystem revival, and in the case of the salmon: species survival.

The Project

The Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries Trust works to restore the ecosystem function of their rivers’ catchment. Currently, only 7% of once-riparian woodland is still present, thus a large focus of the Trust’s work is centred on restoring these riparian zones (see video below).

This HIEF grant supported the establishment of a native tree nursery to ensure that restoration efforts had a consistent supply of native saplings.

Project Activities

Through employing a Project Manager, Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries Trust were able to successfully develop the nursery and become fully operational.

Over the course of 2024, the nursery grew 20,000 saplings, which will be ready for planting over 2025 – 26. This includes a wide variety of native species, such as downy birch, eared willow, alder, oak, aspen and wych elm. By sourcing seeds locally, the nursery maintains the genetic diversity of stocks, and reduces biodiversity risks associated with sourcing trees from elsewhere.

Through a number of outreach activities, the nursery raised awareness locally of the threats facing salmon, and the role of the riverwoods project and nursery in addressing these. Local events, such as an Agricultural Show, enabled the team to engage with the public through pricking out birch seedlings for the nursery. Articles in local newspapers have helped spread the word about the nursery, and regular volunteer sessions are held to enable people to get involved with the project.

In the long term, restored riparian woodlands will provide high water quality and a range of habitats for freshwater organisms. Through creating shade for migrating Atlantic Salmon, the woodlands will not only reduce the plight of this iconic keystone species, but also positively impact the local fishery and tourism economy.

The Tree Nursery in September 2024. Images courtesy of Gethin Chamberlain.