© Mowi
The salmon producer has successfully planted the first 45 of 112,000 native broadleaved trees, which are to be established over the next year near Mowi’s Caol Mor sea farm at Loch Ainort.
To mark the occasion, a ceremony was held on 21 October, where Kate Forbes MSP - Scotland’s Deputy First Minister - attended the planting, alongside local councillor John Finlayson and Mowi Scotland staff and consultants.
“Our Maol Ban native woodland project has been six years in the making and is thought to be a first for any aquaculture company in Scotland,” said Stephen MacIntyre, head of environment at Mowi Scotland, in a press release.
“It is a unique and exciting project that will produce real outcomes that support Mowi’s strategic sustainability programmes and policies on the topics of protecting nature and biodiversity, and delivering actions that contribute to tackling climate change,” he added.
By planting native broadleaves, primarily native upland birch, the woodland will strengthen soil and water, protect, and enhance habitat quality and biodiversity with resulting overall benefits to the land, which lies within the Cuillins Special Protection Area. The planting proposals have been sensitively designed, including maintaining areas of open ground and incorporating low-density planting.
Funding for the project was granted by Scottish Forestry, the Scottish Government agency responsible for forestry policy, support and regulation.
“The project is aligned to Scotland’s Forestry Strategy, published by the Scottish Government, which seeks to increase woodland cover and contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration. In fact, the woodland is estimated to have the potential to sequestrate 38,616 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next 100 years,” concluded MacIntyre.
