At the Cairngorms Connect Tree Nursery, we are working to restore tree species that are absent or under-represented in our native woods due to unsustainable grazing pressure and past land management practices.
Our landscape-scale restoration efforts are helping to enable natural regeneration where possible but in some areas, there isn’t a local seed source available or suitable habitat conditions for some tree species to recolonise on their own. And this is where the Tree Nursery comes in.
We collect seed and cuttings from remnant populations of native tree species in the Cairngorms Connect partnership area and propagate these at the Tree Nursery to build sufficient planting stock.
Our focus is on native broadleaf trees, and we specialise in montane species: trees that grow at higher altitudes creating a montane woodland which we know would have been much more prevalent in this area than it is today. By growing our own stock, we can also manage the health of the trees we are planting.
Our target at the Tree Nursery is to grow 10,000 trees per year, no mean feat for such a small team!
The Tree Nursery is located on RSPB Scotland’s Abernethy Reserve and it began life as a volunteer initiative, spearheaded by a local group called the Friends of Abernethy.
In 2019, when Cairngorms Connect began, funding was made available to hire a Tree Nursery Manager to help give direction and harness the energy of the volunteers and since then the nursery has grown from strength to strength.
The volunteer community at the Tree Nursery makes the work we do possible. They turn up week after week, weeding beds, planting seeds, and carrying hundreds of seedlings across the landscape for planting.
People volunteer at the Tree Nursery for many reasons; it enables people to play an active role in the restoration work that is happening on their doorstep, it has benefits for their health and wellbeing, and fosters connection and friendships between different people within the local community.
If you are interested in volunteering at the Tree Nursery, you can sign up on the Cairngorms National Park website by clicking here.
If you have any questions, please contact the Tree Nursery manager, David: david.blair@cairngormsconnect.org.uk
