We are delighted to announce that Sunart Rainforest Project has received £282,325 from the Scottish Government’s Rainforest Restoration Fund (RRF), managed by NatureScot. This funding will allow us to complete some vital restoration projects across the Sunart Rainforest Project area.
The RRF, managed by NatureScot, will be shared by eleven projects across the west of the country to help restore and expand the iconic native woodland.
Fragmented, and only the size of Edinburgh (approximately 30,000 hectares), Scotland’s remaining temperate rainforest is home to a variety of rare species and valuable habitats, capturing up to one million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and preventing flooding and soil erosion. Rare ferns, mosses, liverworts and lichens thrive, thanks to the west coast’s mild and damp weather conditions, but it faces threats from invasive non-native plants like rhododendron ponticum and grazing by deer.
Through this grant, the Sunart Rainforest Project will conduct 40 hectares of Rhododendron removal, cull 200 deer above the baseline cull across the project area and purchase and build a community poly tunnel to support skills development in rainforest restoration for the wider Sunart community.
We’ve made great progress on delivering the project activities so far, with 135 deer being culled above the baseline with 3 weeks of the hind season remaining. We’ve also got two local contracting teams lined up to begin Rhododendron removal works, who will be on the ground towards the end of January. A site has been selected in Strontian to host the poly tunnel, and we are now progressing discussions with the planning authority.
If you’d like to find out more about the work being delivered by the Sunart Rainforest Project, please feel free to get in touch with euan@sunartcommunitycompany.co.uk, or visit our Sunart Rainforest Webpage.
This project is supported by the Scottish Government’s Rainforest Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot.