Rewilding case study

Abstract

Carrifran Wildwood, in the central Southern Uplands of Scotland, now has over 20 years of experience of transforming formerly open, hard grazed, treeless sheep walk into vibrant mixed native woodland, recovering Boreal and montane heath, blanket bog, species-rich Alpine tall-herb communities and wind blasted summit-heath flora. Borders Forest Trust and the Wildwood Group have learned much from this experience and are now applying those lessons to the surrounding and adjacent land. The chapter will describe how this was achieved through both the planning and practical delivery stages and how this could be rolled-out into the wider landscape. This includes base-line surveys of the natural history of area undertaken during the planning stage. The physical information (climate, geology, soils, hydrology) was obtained from published material mostly. But the extant habitats and species required detailed field work to be carried out. The latter consisted, mainly (but not exclusively), of recording and mapping the vegetation and plant communities present. The latter, in combination with local climate, geology, and soil conditions, provided the main scientific reasoning behind the final restoration programme, that is, the outcome of these surveys informed the restoration choices available. The practical restoration plan itself, then followed from these results.