Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has stepped up its peatland restoration on the west coast – contributing to the Scottish Government’s record restoration efforts for 2024-25.

FLS teams in the west have set 500 hectares of peatland on the road to recovery in last year. This is a significant increase from previous years and has seen degraded peatland across both open habitat and former commercial forestry sites being restored.

Key sites include Lussa Forest at the southern end of the Kintyre Peninsula and Glengarry Forest between Loch Garry and Loch Arkaig.

In the last year, FLS delivered 1744ha of peatland restoration work across Scotland, surpassing its yearly target of 1500ha.

Restoration efforts in the west of Scotland are a key part of the FLS Peatland Restoration Strategy with FLS a delivery partner for NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION Project – a partnership aiming to restore tens of thousands of hectares of forest to bog and improve a similar amount of existing blanket bog to peatland.

This week coinciding with World Peatlands Day (June 2), Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie revealed the Peatland ACTION partnership put over 14,000 hectares of degraded peatlands on the road to recovery this year, a record achievement.  

Restoring peatland offers numerous environmental benefits, including carbon storage, flood prevention, improved water quality, and increased biodiversity. 

FLS Peatland Restoration Forester, for the South of West Region, Dave Salmon said: 

“In the past few years, we have really stepped up the work we are doing on the west of the country to restore and enhance these vital habitats and ecosystems.

“Surveys were done to identify areas where the restoration work was needed, plans to manage the work were developed before work on the ground – involving excavators and specialised techniques – is carried out.     

“Damaged peatlands emit carbon dioxide but once restored with the removal of trees and stumps, smoothing out ridges and furrows along with blocking drains with peat dams, peatlands can return to their normal hydrological condition where they play a crucial role in capturing carbon from the atmosphere.”

The increased pace of restoration in 2024/25 is a result of years of planning and is now delivering tangible benefits for climate and biodiversity.

FLS Environment Advisor for the West Region Callum Strong said:

“The team in West Region have been preparing restoration projects for several years, building sites into our land management plans and undertaking extensive surveys and consultation.

“Last year we really increased our pace of operational delivery and it is hugely satisfying to see years of planning begin to be realised on the ground, delivering tangible benefits for climate and biodiversity. We still have a lot of work to do, but the local team alongside our excellent pool of contractors  s hould rightly be proud of their efforts so far.”

FLS has targeted further sites throughout Lochaber, Mull and Argyll for restoration work this year.