Capercaillie Emergency Plan 2025 - 2030 - Flipbook - Page 3
1. Executive summary
The Scottish capercaillie population risks extinction within our lifetimes unless
urgent action is taken. This Capercaillie Emergency Plan, initiated by the
Scottish Government, will deliver renewed intensive measures at pace and at
scale to combat this threat and help our capercaillie population to recover.
Aligned with the long-term vision of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and the
National Park Partnership Plan, which prioritise the landscape scale restoration
of pinewood habitat to safeguard capercaillie, this plan is focused on immediate
and targeted measures in the short-term. It identifies actions that will maximise
existing opportunities and address specific gaps across a range of interventions
to rapidly benefit capercaillie, from improving habitat to reducing the impacts of
predation and disturbance at scale.
A wide range of public, private and voluntary mechanisms will need to be
secured to fund the delivery of this plan. Success will also depend on high levels
of collaboration from all stakeholders, led by the Cairngorms National Park
Authority and NatureScot.
In the early 1990s, conservation science projected that capercaillie would be
extinct in Scotland by around 2010. The fact that capercaillie are still in our
forests speaks volumes about our capabilities. While the precarious state of our
capercaillie population demands continued support, such ongoing efforts are not
uncommon when dealing with highly vulnerable species.
Now, thanks in no small part to the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, the widest
range of people yet are actively helping capercaillie alongside longstanding
efforts by land managers. This plan provides clear direction for continuing that
collective endeavour to ensure capercaillie remain in our forests for generations.
Grant Moir
Eileen Stuart
Chief Executive
Cairngorms National Park Authority
Deputy Director
NatureScot
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