TENT’s Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration initiative aims to support and catalyse partnership approaches to restore river systems in some of Scotland’s critical wild Atlantic salmon catchment areas. We’re proud to share an update on the woodland creation work underway in our partnered catchment-scale restoration projects.
Over the next 2 years alone, projects initiated or supported by Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration will plant more than 410,000 native trees, restoring more than 380 hectares of woodland across 2 critical catchment areas.
First, remind us, what’s the story with salmon decline?
Salmon in Scotland are in crisis – in fact, in the last 30 years alone, we’ve seen declines of up to 70% in the number of wild Atlantic salmon returning to their freshwater habitats. While there are enormous problems in the marine environment – which are being exacerbated by climate change – there is an increasing recognition that the health of river catchments is having an impact on the provision of cool, clean water that salmon need to thrive in their early stages of life.
Okay, and what’s the connection between trees, salmon and climate change?
Today, salmon are returning to rivers that are not only hotter because of climate change, but are less resilient to climate impacts in freshwater systems because of a legacy of deforestation.
Riparian woodland – trees, on the riverbank and surrounding valleys – provides shade that keeps rivers cool, mitigating the thermal impacts of climate change. Trees provide food resources for a range of birds and invertebrate species, which in turn enrich the abundance of food for salmonids.
In healthy, connected and resilient marine and freshwater systems, salmon transport critical nutrients from the sea into terrestrial ecosystems. What’s key is that salmon need cool, clean water to do this – but under climate change, rivers are getting hotter. In fact, 70% of Scotland’s rivers now experience temperatures above the critical threshold for thermal stress in juvenile Atlantic salmon, which limits their development and survival.
In the Kyle of Sutherland for example, remaining native woodland covers an average of just 5.5% of the five core river systems (Carron, Shin, Cassley, Evelix, and the Oykel. The lack of woodland on riverbanks also increases rates of erosion, and limits the amount of woody structures that young salmon hide in to avoid predation.
So, what can we do about all of this?
We need to restore the river catchments that salmon are a part of; in doing so, we’ll improve the resilience of our landscapes and rivers to climate change, boost our native biodiversity, and allow land to benefit a broader base of the Scottish public. Over the past few years, TENT has been supporting local rivers’ trusts to develop a network of riparian woodland restoration projects that are reinstating an important seed source for natural regeneration of trees – the building blocks of healthy ecosystems.
Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration aims to restore and improve ecosystem function across Scotland’s key salmon catchments, beginning with the Kyle of Sutherland and Cromarty catchments. We’re working in partnership with local rivers’ trusts at the Kyle of Sutherland Rivers Trust and Cromarty Firth Watershed Environmental Trust, corporate partners and landowners, to develop a network of restoration projects.
380 hectares of riparian woodland to be restored
More than 410,000 trees being planted
5 ‘flagship’ projects underway across 2 river catchments
This video shows how native trees grow in Scotland. These trees were originally planted at Alladale in 2010: the first drone clip was taken in 2020, and the second in 2026. The first decade of life is about the trees growing their root systems and developing relationships with mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. The second decade is about the trees growing their above-ground biomass. Below, together with our partners, we’ve enabled the planting of more than 410,000 such trees, restoring forests for future generations.
Project 1
Alladale Wilderness Reserve
Expanding woodland cover at Scotland’s pioneering restoration project
Alladale’s new reforestation scheme represents a significant extension of the long-standing woodland restoration work undertaken at the 23,000 acre reserve, where more than 1 million native trees have already been replanted. New woodland planting is underway across November, and will cover a total project area of 74 hectares, building on Alladale’s historic commitment to restoring nature. The project has been generously supported by CFH Global Home Group.
The project includes planting across two key sites. At Glen Mor, 48,000 trees will be established, whilst a further 35,000 trees are to be planted at Deanich. This will result in a significant contribution towards the regeneration of native woodlands, using species reflective of the area’s natural woodland communities. These two projects will contribute to the wider Kyle Riverwoods initiative – a catchment-scale initiative led by the Kyle of Sutherland Rivers Trust, and supported by The European Nature Trust’s Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration umbrella.
This expansion of woodland cover beyond the core woodland areas – where more than 1 million trees have been planted to date – will strengthen ecological connectivity and reinforce Alladale’s vision for a functioning, self-sustaining ecosystem.
Crucially, the project has undergone rigorous biodiversity baselining in partnership with rePLANET and Mosaic Earth. Utilising the Wallacea Trust Methodology, a rigorous method of quantifying biodiversity pre-intervention, will allow ecologists at Alladale to quantify the biodiversity that returns over the years as a direct result of the woodland creation.
Project 2
East Rhiddorroch Estate
Connecting the woodlands of the past, with those of the future
On the shores of Loch an Daimh at the East Rhiddorroch Estate, an important remnant stand of ancient woodland (Coille a’ Bhreun–Leitir) has become isolated. To preserve genetic continuity with the woodland of the past, a mixture of native woodland planting and natural regeneration approaches is needed.
Delivered in partnership with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution, this project will combine around 92 hectares of native woodland creation of more than 125,000 native trees, including around 23 hectares of natural regeneration. SSEN have provided financial support to enable the scheme, delivered in partnership with the Kyle Riverwoods catchment-scale initiative.
The East Rhiddorroch project presents an important opportunity to protect remnant stands of ancient semi-natural woodland, while developing an important habitat connection with the designated Caledonian Pine wood of Glen Achall through native woodland creation. As well as sequestering carbon, benefitting biodiversity, this project will reduce the genetic isolation of this remnant stand of woodland, providing valuable habitat connectivity for wildlife, invertebrates and other animals.
Project 3
Restoring riparian woodland on the Oykel river
‘Watching to Give’ with WaterBear
As part of the WaterBear Network’s Watch to Give campaign, we’re delighted to be partnering once again with the streaming platform – this time to enable native trees to be restored on the rivers Oykel and Shin.
In total, WaterBear’s donation to these initiatives has supported the planting of 20,700 native broadleaf trees as part of riparian woodland creation schemes through the Kyle of Sutherland Rivers Trust’s ‘Kyle Riverwoods’ initiative (a SWT Riverwoods Blueprint Project).
On the river Oykel, 12,200 native trees have been planted, alongside 3,500 on the Benmore Beat. In addition, 5,000 native trees have been planted on the river Shin; here, our partners at the Kyle of Sutherland Rivers Trust have planted the trees using an experimental method incorporating sheep’s wool to protect the trees as a natural alternative to tree guards or expensive deer fencing.
Project 4
Oykel and Carron Restoration
Oykel and Carron Planting with Levy & RegenFutureCo
The European Nature Trust is delighted to be an official partner of the new ‘Living System Fund’, a not-for-profit funding initiative supporting ecological projects that give back to nature, engage communities and create social impact.
Levy – a leading hospitality partner – is a proud founding partner of the fund which has been developed with RegenFutureCo, a pioneering consultancy dedicated to advancing circular and regenerative practices. Levy is giving a total of £500,000 to the fund in 2026 to benefit seven key projects – of which TENT and partners’ Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration initiative has been selected.
Our partnership will enable native tree planting as part of Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration and in partnership with the Kyle of Sutherland Rivers Trust.
In partnership between TENT, Levy, RegenFutureCo and KSRT, we will plant approximately 76,500 native trees across two projects in 2026 and 2027. First up, we’ll see the planting of 29 hectares of native woodland at Thurnaig, which will help to restore native biodiversity on the Oykel river system. Secondly, likely from 2027, we will see the planting of a further 21,500 native trees on a large scheme supporting biodiversity on the Carron river system. As the trees grow, their shade will help keep the Dounie burn cool, providing hydrological benefits to the larger Carron river system – a key salmon river. The trees will provide a food source for birds and insects, and, as the trees grow, they will help lock in carbon from the atmosphere. Over the decades, the roots of these trees will help to stabilise the riverbanks, reducing erosion and improving the nutrient balance across the surrounding landscape.
To get ready for the planting season ahead, and to understand what it takes to plant trees at this kind of scale, Levy’s senior leadership team paid a visit to our partners at Alladale Wilderness Reserve. They got their hands dirty doing enrichment planting on the river Carron system in Alladale’s Skiach Woods.
Project 5
Kildermorie Native Woodland Creation
Reinstating critical woodland on the Averon river
Our partners at the Cromarty Firth Watershed Environmental Trust have partnered on a project to create woodland at the Kildermorie Estate. The project will create a 140-hectare area of native woodland, with significant potential for natural regeneration as the site establishes.
The project has been funded by Scottish Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution nature-based solutions programme. It has been adapted to create a climate-smart and locally beneficial woodland for the Upper Averon river system by mixing the riparian native corridors with a mosaic of upland woodland and open ground to suit the habitat mosaic and long-term regeneration potential.
CFWET was established to restore habitats, biodiversity and ecological function across the Cromarty Firth watershed — an area of approximately 3,000 km² containing six major river systems: the Conon, Alness (Averon), Allt Graad (Glass), Balnagown, Peffery and Sgitheach.
Keen to support restoration work as part of Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration?
Contact Jacob Dykes, TENT’s General Manager to find out ways you or your business can support river catchment restoration in the Scottish Highlands.
jacob@theeuropeannaturetrust.com
Other partners and supporters of Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration
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