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 a core area of 8,000ha and a wider deer management area of 14,000ha.
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.
The Sunart Community Company has undertaken to administer the revival of this project which has had widespread community support since the late 1990s under the name ‘Sunart Oakwood Project’. The Sunart Rainforest Project aims to recover and build on the rainforest restoration work that was commenced over 25 years ago as a partnership project to restore native woodland, control INNS and provide opportunities for community involvement and recreation. The project aims to bring 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 activities
The delivery stage of the project focuses on the following:
Deer management
Accurate population counts 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.
Strategic deer fencing construction and maintenance around northern plantations and open boundaries.
Implementation of large scale deer reduction to allow nature recovery over the wider area and enable natural regeneration establishment without internal deer fencing.
SSSI favourable condition – Habitat management plan
Implement the actions required to achieve Favourable Condition within a 10-year period, particularly deer reduction and INNS eradication. This will be guided by a Nature Recovery Plan that covers both the open hill habitats and the native woodlands that comprise the rainforest. The ownerships will work within the context of their own individual woodland management plans prepared in the development phase of the project.
Habitat assessment and monitoring
Rapid Rainforest Assessments (RRA) have provided key information for management planning to protect and enhance key temperate rainforest features, particularly lichens and bryophytes. Monitoring of these key features will continue.
Monitor and carry out follow-up treatments of rhododendron, Japanese knotweed and non-indigenous conifers where these INNS threaten biodiversity.
Develop the identified potential for rainforest expansion by natural regeneration and new planting.
Herbivore Impact Assessments of open hill and woodland habitats to monitor change arising from interventions.
Community Consultation
Community consultation and engagement over the Delivery Phase 2026-2036 to connect with local people, encourage participation 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 the woodland and woodland related features within the project area and secure Favourable Condition status.
Focus on the eradication of Rhododendron ponticum, Japanese knotweed and non-native conifers regenerating within the core area.
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
We are grateful for funding from the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF), the Rainforest Restoration Fund, Woodland Trust Scotland and the public sector agencies who have landholdings within the project area. We are looking at opportunities for joint working to secure long-term funding to support ecologically diverse and climate resilient landscapes.
Project partners
This is a partnership project made up Sunart Community Company, 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
