Capercaillie Emergency Plan 2025 - 2030 - Flipbook - Page 5
Capercaillie continue to face threats, including habitat loss, predation, climate
change and human disturbance, which have not yet been adequately mitigated to
reverse the population trend. While conservation efforts are underway, these
measures have not yet resulted in a significant population recovery, indicating that
the species is still in the declining phase rather than moving towards recovery.
A subgroup of the NatureScot Scientific Advisory Committee has advised that
capercaillie could be lost within two to three decades if we do not move quickly, and
that renewed intensive measures are needed if the population is to be conserved.
To maximise population impact, measures to improve breeding success and
survival should be targeted in the core of the range which is in the Cairngorms
National Park where 85% of the UK capercaillie population now lives. The
Cairngorms National Park Authority and NatureScot have therefore been asked by
the Scottish Government to lead on the development of this plan in collaboration
with relevant stakeholders to achieve the long-term vision of a thriving capercaillie
population in Scotland.
The actions in this plan are based on the best available evidence and learning
from work recently delivered to benefit capercaillie, including through the
Cairngorms Capercaillie Project and independently by land managers.
Views have also been gathered from a wide range of stakeholders through a
programme of meetings, workshops and an online survey facilitated by the Park
Authority and NatureScot. Those views have helped to inform this plan to ensure
it is reflective of costs and practicalities and appropriate within the wider context
of biodiversity and communities in the National Park.
A key first step in delivering this plan will be to conduct standardised habitat
assessments across the capercaillie range in the National Park. Those assessments
will be used to identify where the interventions outlined in this plan stand to deliver
the greatest benefit for capercaillie as the aim of this plan is not to deliver
everything, everywhere. Instead, this plan will enable the delivery of the Ôright
intervention in the right placeÕ, or the right combination of interventions in target
areas to maximise population impact at a landscape scale.
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