Controversial Cairngorms capercaillie project is awarded £2 million in lottery funds
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The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced a £2 million funding package to help save one of the UK’s rarest and most fascinating birds – the capercaillie.
One of the core aims of the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project is about putting people at the heart of capercaillie conservation with funding available to help communities in the national park to deliver their own community-led conservation action plans.
The village of Carrbridge and the surrounding area has been acting as a pilot community during the development phase of the project, with their own capercaillie conservation action plan just put out for consultation with villagers right now.
However, it has not been without controversy with some residents claiming there were not consulted by project leaders the Cairngorms National Park Authority on whether they wanted the big money conservation project and saying it has been imposed on them.
They fear that access could be lost to some surrounding woods for dog walking, mountain biking and other recreation.
There will be a considerable amount of work carried out to improve habitats for the birds alongside research into the genetic diversity of the current capercaillie population, strengthening current monitoring and raising general awareness of the plight of capercaillie.
There are believed to be fewer than 1000 birds left in the wild with 80 per cent of them in Strathspey.
Xander McDade, Chair of the Cairngorms National Park Authority board has welcomed the green light for funding to help save what is the world's largest grouse.
He said: “We are delighted to hear that funding has been awarded from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for capercaillie conservation.
"We are determined to save the capercaillie for future generations and the added bonus is, we know the work carried out across the Park during the life of this project, will also benefit a whole variety of species that rely on healthy native pinewoods – including people!
“No-one could have known that when the park authority with its partners embarked on this initiative that we would be facing these difficult economic circumstances due to a global pandemic so this inward investment of £2 million at this time is set to be a welcome economic boost with new jobs and work for local contractors.
“Capercaillie numbers have been declining for several decades and previous conservation activities have certainly prevented us from losing them completely, but with numbers considered to be at an all-time low, it is extremely important that we take action across a variety of strands of work and this can only be delivered with funding support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.”
The £2 million from the NLHF will help to unlock further local funding including forestry grants and contributions from private estates, helping to re-boot the local economy, securing a total budget for the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project of £2.9m
The project is also set to deliver include increasing and improving habitat for capercaillie, from planting new trees to the thinning of older plantations.
Habitat work also involves controlling deer numbers to allow for natural regeneration of woodland areas, work that will be carried out by professional gamekeepers alongside predator management.
Two community rangers will be working with communities to help them put their capercaillie conservation plans into action and to enable more people to get involved in a range of environmental volunteering activities as well as capercaillie themed events.
Along with genetic research, scientists and fieldworkers will be studying the breeding success of capercaillie and the impacts of predators on the birds.
Issie Inglis, a member of the Carrbridge Capercaillie Group said: “I am very proud that our village will be the first in this park-wide initiative to produce its own capercaillie conservation strategy – a first for the UK – and which is out for consultation now.
"Our community vision is to make sure that capercaille will be in Scotland for everyone, forever, and to play our small part in global wildlife survival.
"To think that funding from the NLHF could potentially achieve that, and help boost their numbers, not just here but across the national park, is very exciting.”
Capercaillie have been living in Scotland's pine forests since the last Ice Age.
In the UK, capercaillie are only found in Scotland with the Cairngorms National Park – and particularly Strathspey – being the last stronghold for this iconic species.
Once in abundance, capercaillie numbers are now dangerously low, with fewer than 1000 birds thought to be left.
Caroline Clark, Director Scotland of The NLHF, said: “So many people enjoy the wonderful nature of the Cairngorms National Park – and the importance of connecting with nature and our environment has become even more clear as we live through lockdown.
"This support from National Lottery players will give Cairngorms National Park residents and visitors an opportunity to help protect this precious landscape and the charismatic capercaillie, whether they are local businesses, residents or outdoor enthusiasts.
"This new community-led model has the potential to provide a sustainable way of caring for our natural heritage.”
The project is being led by the CNPA, and the park authority has said it will directly create nine local jobs with various staff required to run the project.
The CNPA has said there is partner involvement across the national park from a variety of organisations and businesses including Balmoral Estate, Brook Forestry, Cairngorms Business Partnership, Carrbridge Capercaillie Group, Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, Forestry and Land Scotland, Groves Forestry, Rothiemurchus Estate, RSPB, Scottish Forestry, Scottish Natural Heritage and Seafield & Strathspey Estates.
Carrbridge Connect represents more than 30 local residents concerned about the way in which the Cairngorms National Park Authority has "imposed this project on the village of Carrbridge".
A spokesperson said: "It needs to be made clear that this is not by any means a community-led project but has been put together by a small group of people, most of whom have connections to the park authority, led by CNPA staff and RSPB officers.
"Both CNPA and the National Lottery Heritage Fund are perfectly aware of the issues this project has created in our village but have gone beind the Covid-19 smokescreen to award yet another £2 million plus worth of funding on top of the millions of pounds that have already been spent on capercaillie over the past two decades.
"There is nothing in this so called strategy that hasn't been done previously except the bullying of this project into a small local community simply for financial gain.
"It is a disgrace. We are more concerned than ever on the negative impact this preconceived approach might have on both our community and most importantly the caperaillie."
More information about the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project can be found at https://www.cairngormscapercaillie.scot/
