About this episode

Martha Kearney explores Carrifran Wildwood, a pioneering environmental restoration project in Southern Scotland aimed at recreating ancient woodlands.

Martha Kearney visits one of the UK’s earliest environmental restoration projects. Southern Scotland was once covered in broadleaf woodland, rich scrub, heath and bog. That was before sheep, humans and conifers took hold. Now a group of visionary volunteers are restoring that landscape in what they call the ‘wild heart of southern Scotland’. Set in a 1600 acre glacial valley in lowland Scotland, Carrifran Wildwood is the first tranche of a wider restoration area which aims to wheel back six thousand years. The idea is to recreate the primeval forest that proliferated back then. It will act as a carbon sink, a flood mitigator and a generator of biodiversity. The planting schedule is drawn from a catalogue created from evidence in the ancient peat bog. Unlike other ‘rewilding’ projects, Carrifran Wildwood aims to exclude human beings from this valuable space, an unusual step which the founders see as crucial to its success. Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

People in this episode

Host: Martha Kearney

Topics covered

• environmental restoration
• biodiversity
• rewilding
• carbon sink
• landscape restoration

Keywords

• Carrifran Wildwood
• environmental restoration
• Southern Scotland
• biodiversity
• carbon sink
• rewilding
• landscape restoration

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Radio 4

Places: Southern Scotland, Carrifran Wildwood, lowland Scotland, glacial valley

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