The charity hopes to restore Glencripesdale after buying the Highland nature reserve.
In good condition, one hectare of temperate rainforest can contain as many as 200 species of lichen and 200 species of mosses and liverworts.The Glencripesdale nature reserve is a remote place with no public road to the reserve and a four-mile walk or cycle to the nearest car park.
Dave Beaumont, RSPB Scotland's operations director for South Scotland, said the charity would now need to remove invasive non-native species, such as rhododendron, and attempt to reduce the impact of deer - which eat young seedlings - on tree regeneration.It will also plant or encourage the regeneration of trees and shrubs, such as aspen and holly, to restore the natural diversity."We are grateful for the support of local people and the Sunart and Morvern Community Councils and are looking forward to working with them and local contractors to manage this important woodland and help to restore its former extent and value for wildlife. "We hope this will kick-start a much bigger restoration project across the whole of Morvern helping to restore Scotland's rainforest on a landscape scale."Through the Alliance for Scotland's Rainforest, RSPB Scotland and other organisations have shared aims to promote, restore, and connect Scotland's rainforests. RSPB Scotland said the Glencripesdale nature reserve was a significant piece of the jigsaw and would play an important role in its ambitions to work at a landscape scale to address common challenges facing the woodlands. In addition to the natural challenges, the reserve was historically a commercial woodland meaning that many non-commercial species are now missing or much reduced. Chris Donald, NatureScot's head of operations for Central Highland, said "Scotland's ancient woodlands are small, fragmented and failing to thrive. "Selling our land at Glencripesdale to RSPB Scotland is an exceptional opportunity for NatureScot to support a major landscape-scale restoration project, as we work ambitiously with partners across all sectors to reverse the biodiversity crisis and protect 30% of Scotland's nature by 2030."
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