Main Banner Image of the Kyles of Bute by Ian Dow/ACT

Bounded by Loch Striven and Loch Fyne, the West Cowal Habitat Restoration Project area includes the peninsulas of Kilfinan and Colintraive, which encapsulate the Kyles of Bute National Scenic Area and Isle of Bute. This area of over 45,000 hectares contains a mosaic of natural habitats that includes remnant and fragmented temperate rainforest. This globally important habitat is facing significant threats from conflicting land use objectives, over-browsing by herbivores and invasive species such as Rhododendron ponticum.

Our ambitious project aims to take cooperative action at a landscape scale to protect, restore, expand and reconnect the remnant and fragmented temperate rainforest and other natural habitats in the West Cowal area. Engaging with communities and building the capacity to deliver habitat regeneration and maintain a resilient, diverse, natural environment that can contribute towards tackling the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis.

Project aims

• To work cooperatively with local communities, community groups, contractors, landowners and managers - maximising the opportunity to regenerate and reconnect natural habitats across what is a complex pattern of land use, interest and existing management objectives.
• Protect, restore, expand, and reconnect temperate rainforest across approx. 10,000 hectares of coastal and ravine opportunity.
• Increase local deer management skills and infrastructure. Building the local capacity to reduce herbivore impact, which will enable the rainforest to naturally regenerate.
• Eradicate Rhododendron ponticum from across approx. 1,500 hectares of the Kyles of Bute and Glendaruel catchment, alongside a further 1,500 hectares of predominantly coastal infestation.
• Deliver rainforest regeneration interventions at R. ponticum eradication sites.
• Carry out native woodland creation where temperate rainforest has been severely disrupted - establishing a diverse native seed source to enable natural expansion when herbivore impact has been reduced.
• Identify opportunities to carry out PAWS restoration and reconnect temperate rainforest throughout the productive conifer landscape of West Cowal.
• Identify opportunities to integrate temperate rainforest into livestock management via woodland pasture development and agroforestry practices.
• Developing educational programs that include specialised training, qualifications, and job opportunities relating to rainforest regeneration.
• Develop a citizen science West Cowal iNaturalist biological recording project – helping to develop our understanding and shape how the network of rainforest biodiversity can be reconnected across West Cowal.

Photos by Ian Dow/ACT

       

Nephroma laevigatum                             Plagiochila spinulosa                              Trametes versicolor

Project partners

Partnerships already established in West Cowal include community woodlands such as Glenan, Bute and Stronafian, multiple private landholdings and non-landowning organisations such as local development trusts and The Kyles Coastal Community group. In addition, ACT work alongside the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest, NatureScot and Forestry and Land Scotland towards a shared goal of restoring temperate rainforest across Scotland. We aim to build upon these relationships and develop further partnership opportunities as the project progresses.

Maps

Click here to download the maps: West Cowal Ancient & Native Woodland and West Cowal Heatmap

         

       West Cowal Ancient and Native Woodland       

                                                                 

       West Cowal Heatmap                                         

Funding requirement

ACT has secured funding via the Priceless Planet Coalition to deliver 60 hectares of native woodland creation at two West Cowal sites, alongside the development of a biodiversity gain project at Glenan Community Woodland in partnership with SSEN. Both projects are well underway. However, the estimated cost to deliver the project aims are expected to exceed £5m.

Useful Resources

• ACT - Rainforest Restoration Package
• ACT - Knapdale Landscape Scale Restoration Project
• ACT - Argyll's rainforest
• Alliance for Scotland's Rainforest
• Woodland Trust - State of Scotland's Rainforest Report
• ASR - Rainforest Management Guidance
• ASR - Community Engagement: Good Practice for Restoring Scotland's Rainforest

For more information contact Ian Dow, ACT Woodland Coordinator: [email protected]