Case Study C: The Great Trossachs Forest, a long-term approach to guide Highland landscape change in Scotland

Abstract

The Great Trossachs Forest is a 16,500 hectare area set in the heart of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (LLTNP) in central Scotland (Figure 1), and accounts for 9% of the National Park area. It stretches from Inversnaid on the eastern shores of Loch Lomond in the west, across the Loch Katrine catchment to Glen Finglas and Callander in the east (Figure 1). According to Scottish Natural Heritage’s Landscape Character Assessment (SNH, 2009), the area is made up mainly of Highland landscape types comprising hills, upland glens, and transitional landscapes, and includes open and forested moorland. The area is within a National Park designated area and includes National Scenic Areas, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Areas of Conservation, having itself become a National Nature Reserve in 2015. Furthermore, land ownership and management in the area (Figure 1) is shared among three institutions, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (https://www.rspb.org.uk/), Forestry Commission-Scotland (http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk) and the Woodland Trust (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/), which are all aimed at improving landscape, biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. All of these factors influence the dynamics of landscape change in the area, with forest landscape regeneration being favored on the lower slopes for both the near and distant future. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of these new woodlands are the so-called wood pastures, which are being created using traditional techniques of grazing cattle in woodlands. The main focus of recent and ongoing actions on the area has been creating a mosaic of habitats including the restoration of ancient forests, woodlands and moorlands which are therefore prioritized over other traditional and identitary landscapes, such as highland pastures dedicated to sheep grazing,