Scotland, and Councillor John Finlayson
The first 45 of 112,000 trees have been planted as part of a new native woodland being established by Mowi Scotland at Maol Ban in Skye.
Over 2024-2025, 112,000 native broadleaved trees will be planted across 102 hectares of land near to Mowi Scotland’s Caol Mor seawater farm on the north side of Loch Ainort.
A ceremony took place on 21st October, with Kate Forbes MSP, Deputy First Minister of Scotland, planting the first tree. Local councillor John Finlayson was also in attendance alongside Mowi Scotland staff and consultants from delivery partner Galbraith together with forestry team, SM Forestry.
Funding for the project was granted by Scottish Forestry, the Scottish Government agency responsible for forestry policy, support and regulation.
Stephen MacIntyre, Head of Environment at Mowi Scotland, explained: “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.
“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.”
Mowi owns the land forming the woodland adjacent to its Caol Mor fish farms, which comprises an open hillside/low ridge on the north side of Loch Ainort, lying within the Cuillins Special Protection Area and on the edge of the Cuillin Hills National Scenic Area.
Ground preparation work for planting will now start across the entire site followed by tree planting which is scheduled to be complete by March 2025.
