The Cairngorms Connect partnership area is a landscape full of potential for bold and ambitious ecological restoration. It’s also a great place to do the science of ecological restoration. The size of the area, and the huge depth of ecological and practical knowledge among the Cairngorms Connect partners and our collaborators, is a great basis for an applied science programme, to help us overcome barriers in novel large-scale restoration. This can help us answer questions like “How can we best restore landscapes?” and “If we restore landscapes, what do we gain?”
There are three main ways in which we see science helping our restoration work:
1. Providing an evidence base, supporting our management approaches in the Cairngorms Connect area.
2. Monitoring the restoration process, to see if we are achieving our intended outcomes. This monitoring is further broken down into:
3. Testing interventions, to see if there are alternative management techniques, that might improve our restoration success.
Many thanks to our partners for their support, without whom this work would not be possible: Cairngorms Connect partnership staff from WildLand Cairngorms, NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, RSPB Scotland and our supporting partner Cairngorms National Park Authority.
Many thanks also to Aberdeen University, Edinburgh University, the Endangered Landscapes Programme, EnviroCentre, Dr Andy Scobie, Duncan Halley, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Plantlife, Tom Prescott and Butterfly Conservation, The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Dr Jos Milner and the East Cairngorms Moorland Partnership, EU LIFE 100% Favourable and The Famous Grouse.
For potential Masters student projects related to our science work, please see our ‘Get Involved’ page.
