A project set up to protect some of Scotland’s rare “wee trees” – woodland that grows high up on mountainsides – has secured key funding.<\/p>\n
The trees, which include juniper and globally-endangered whortle-leaved willow, do not grow to full height due to the harsh mountain conditions and they remain small and shrub-like.<\/p>\n
Landscape restoration partnership, Loch Abar M\u00f2r, will use a \u00a3108,000 award from the Scottish government to map the woodland in Lochaber.<\/p>\n
The money will also support the Wee Trees Lochaber project’s development of a nursery.<\/p>\n
Abel McLinden, partnership manager for Loch Abar M\u00f2r, said less than 37 acres (11ha) of the woodland was known to survive in Lochaber.<\/p>\n
“Due to historic land management, including overgrazing, mountain woodland is one of Scotland’s rarest and most fragmented habitats,” he said.<\/p>\n
McLinden said the woodlands supported ecosystems, stabilised slopes and helped to regulate water flow.<\/p>\n
He added: “But these habitats are now restricted to isolated crags and gullies with little or no natural regeneration.<\/p>\n
“Without targeted intervention, the remaining populations will further decline, threatening the unique upland ecosystems and the species that rely on them.”<\/p>\n
Some of Scotland’s remotest and most difficult to access landscapes are to be mapped for the trees, including Creag Meagaidh, Glen Roy, Ben Nevis and Corrour.<\/p>\n
Seeds and cuttings will also be collected so more trees can be grown in the nursery.<\/p>\n
Dr Katherine Leys, NatureScot’s head of biodiversity, said: “Mountain woodland supports a huge range of plant and animal species while helping to relieve flooding and erosion.<\/p>\n
“Without targeted action, we’re at risk of losing this rare and incredibly important habitat.”<\/p>\n
Trees have been found at heights of more than 3,281ft (1,000m) on some of Scotland’s highest peaks.<\/p>\n
The trees reach the mountains as seeds – often blown on winds or deposited in bird droppings after being eaten.<\/p>\n
Scotland’s hilltops were once a landscape full of woodlands but tree cover disappeared over thousands of years due to human activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A project set up to protect some of Scotland’s rare “wee trees” – woodland that grows high up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1134695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,308630,308629,308631,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-1134694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scotland","tag-britain","tag-great-britain","tag-loch-abar-mor","tag-lochaber","tag-mountain-conditions","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117051017612284049","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1134694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1134695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1134694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1134694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1134694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}