Site Analysis - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 66

Box 4-3. Restoration Project Highlight: A Comprehensive Project Plan Is
Important, But It Must Be Flexible Enough to Change as More Information Is
Revealed from Detailed Site Analysis
Location: Carrifran Wildwood Woodland Restoration Project, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
The mission of the Carrifran Wildwood Project is to restore an extensive tract of
mainly forested wilderness with most of the rich diversity of native species present in the
Southern Uplands of Scotland before human activities became dominant. The Moffat
Hills area holds a wide range of upland plant communities, including herb-rich flushes
and calcareous ledge communities Vegetation types found in the western Moffat Hills
include smooth grassland, flush, tall herb, blanket bog, wind-clipped summit heath,
dwarf-shrub heath, tussock grassland, and bracken, resulting in the richest assemblage
of montane and submontane plant species in the Southern Uplands.
Most of the site has suffered from overgrazing, which appears to have reduced the
area of heather ( Calluna vulgaris ) and has effectively halted tree regeneration except
on the most inaccessible ledges. The total project area is about 1,600 acres; the total
area planted is 740 acres . During the first decade of work, more than half a million
trees were planted, establishing young woodland in most of the lower half of the val-
ley. Eventually, this will lead to development of one of the very few extensive areas of
treeline woodland and montane scrub in Britain.
The project came about through grassroots efforts because many residents have
become increasingly uneasy that their familiar, beautiful, but mainly naked country-
side has been ecologically devastated, with only a fraction of the biodiversity that was
once present. At present, there is nowhere in the Southern Uplands, and few places
in Britain south of the Highlands, where one can get a feel for the natural vegetation
of the countryside on a reasonably large scale.
The Wildwood Group achieved the purchase of Carrifran Valley in 2000 (fig. 5-2).
The group had forty to forty-five active members with an impressive range of expertise,
including professional foresters, ecologists, botanists, and zoologists, as well as people
with a high proportion of other professional skills (e.g., law, education, horticulture,
information technology, and business management) needed to carry through such an
ambitious project. Inspiration and outreach to the wider community were provided
by the strong representation of artists in the group.
A management plan describes the goals for woodland restoration at Carrifran. After
three years, it represented the fourth main iteration of the document. By late 2000, as
the process of restoration had already begun, some minor amendments to the original
management plan had already been made—evidence of the adaptive management
approach in action. This document represents not the final word on how restoration
will be achieved at Carrifran but, rather, a flexible set of blueprints that will need to
be adapted to changing circumstances as the project develops.