Scotland planted trees on ancient peatland. Now it is removing them
Conservationists in Scotland are removing commercial trees planted in the 1980s to restore ancient peatlands. The project aims to protect biodiversity and preserve the carbon-sequestering capabilities of the Flow Country, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Why it matters
This illustrates the long-term environmental consequences of past land-use policies and the modern effort to reverse ecological damage.
In the 1980s, Scotland planted commercial trees across parts of a 9,000-year-old peatland; decades later, conservationists are removing them to protect wildlife and keep its stored carbon in the ground.The massive project centers on the Flow Country, a vast area of wet bog covering over 400,000 hectares across Caithness and Sutherland in northern Scotland. In July 2024, UNESCO named the area a World Heritage Site, placing it alongside natural treasures like the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon. It became the world's first peatland to get this special status. King Charles III marked the event by visiting the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Forsinard Flows reserve to reveal a special plaque.Despite its global fame today, large parts of this ancient landscape were nearly ruined forty years ago.
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