Sunart Rainforest Project
Credit, Bruce Taylor
The Sunart Rainforest project encompasses a mix of open hill ground, rainforest habitat and commercial forestry. The project aims to restore and expand rainforest habitat within an 8,000ha area.
The project location lies between Loch Sunart and Loch Shiel, bounded by the A861 between Acharacle and Salen to the west and the unclassified road from Strontian to Glen Hurich Forest to the east. The area is all within Highland Region.
There is widespread community support to recover and build on the rainforest restoration work that was commenced in the late 1990s under the name ‘Sunart Oakwood Project’, a partnership project to restore native woodland, control INNS and provide opportunities for community involvement and recreation. However, there has been no continuation to that project such that herbivore impacts and INNS infestation are currently negatively impacting on the woodland habitat, most of which is designated SSSI/SAC. The project brings a significant proportion of the Sunart SSSI/SAC into favourable condition.
This project aligns with the ‘Saving Morvern’s Rainforest’ initiative on the south side of Loch Sunart, and therefore prepares the way for even larger landscape-scale nature recovery.
Project aims
The intended outcomes of the development stage of the project are as follows:
Deer management
a more accurate population count and assessment of deer movements in and out of the area.
population modelling for the whole area.
agreement on a protocol for collaborative deer management over the wider area that supports employment of qualified hunters and training of assistance to widen the skill base in deer management.
Deer fence condition survey of northern plantations and assessment of feasibility of maintaining or replacing.
Consideration of large scale deer reduction to allow nature recovery over the whole area with or without deer fencing of woodland regeneration areas.
SSSI favourable condition – Habitat management plan
As an outcome of the Forestry Cooperation Project, plan the actions required to achieve Favourable Condition within a 10-year period, particularly deer reduction and INNS eradication. This will be in the format of a Nature Recovery Plan for the wider area, inclusive of open hill habitats, the native woodlands that comprise the rainforest, and individual woodland management plans for private ownerships.
Habitat assessment and monitoring
Carry out Rapid Rainforest Assessments (RRA) to obtain key information for management planning to protect and enhance key temperate rainforest features, particularly lichens and bryophytes.
To identify and quantify locations where rhododendron, Japanese knotweed and non-indigenous conifers threaten biodiversity over the wider area.
Detailed survey and mapping of the potential for expansion by natural regeneration and new planting.
Herbivore Impact Assessments of open hill and woodland habitats
Community Consultation
Community consultation over the Development Phase 2025-2026 to inform local people and receive feedback.
Ultimately, the project will seek to:
Control invasive non-native species (INNS) impacting on nature
Actions that are necessary to protect or restore a strategic asset (SSSI and SAC) at risk from INNS pressures.
Preventing the establishment and spread of INNS into new areas of land, rivers or offshore islands.
Habitat and species restoration – management for enhancement and connectivity
Supporting changes in management to favour diversity of species and habitat structure at a landscape/large-scale level.
Adopting nature-based approaches to managing key ecosystems such as the uplands.
Funding Requirements
The development stage of the project is estimated to cost £110,000. The project is currently waiting for the outcome of a development stage funding bid to the Nature Restoration Fund which will allow assessments to be made to determine how the project will be delivered.
Project partners
This is a partnership project made up Sunart Community Company, North Sunart Woodland Owners Group (which represents all landowners and crofters in area), FLS, SGRPID, and NatureScot. The project spans 15 separate landholdings of various scales and a diversity of habitats.
Contact
Bruce Taylor, Agent, Brambletree Management Ltd, representing Sunart Community Company.
bruce@brambletree.com
