The River Dee Trust and Fishery Board are delighted to have been shortlisted in the Nature & Climate Action category at the Nature of Scotland Awards for their One Million Trees campaign, after an announcement at a parliamentary reception last night. The good news kept on coming when the Restoring the Dee Catchment project also made it to finals in the Landscape Restoration category.
Sandy Bremner, Chair of conservation charity the River Dee Trust said “It’s great to get such prestigious recognition for so many people working hard to deliver some of the biggest nature restoration projects in the Cairngorms. We are driven by what’s at stake for our wildlife.”
The River Dee team launched the One Million Trees campaign to provide partial shade over its hundreds of kilometres of tributaries by 2035, requiring an initial fundraising target of ÂŁ5.5 million. This involves planting a mix of native trees from locally sourced seed along riverbanks.
Of the major rivers in Scotland, the Dee’s upper catchment is especially vulnerable to rising water temperatures because it has so few trees. Scottish Government’s scientists have identified 300 kms of Dee tributaries as vulnerable to dangerous warming.
The river’s threatened Atlantic salmon are a keystone species. They play a vital role in the lifecycle of the freshwater pearl mussel, another threatened species also in serious decline. Atlantic salmon bring marine nutrients back to support the whole web of life, from insects to birds. Atlantic salmon stop feeding and become increasingly vulnerable to disease when river temperatures rise above 23°C. We know climate change will bring more frequent periods of extreme drought and high temperatures than what we’ve witnessed even this past summer and we must act now to help all wildlife.
The campaign is set to reach the half-million planting milestone next year, a huge tribute to all the individuals, organisations and communities involved. The Dee team has overcome major challenges in order to reach this stage. And sustainability has been at the heart of all efforts, including the pioneering use of materials such as biodegradable tree guards.
The River Dee Trust conservation charity and Dee District Salmon Fishery Board work in close partnership with the Cairngorms National Park Authority, collaborating with landowners, managers, and many other stakeholders to deliver this work.
The team will now go forward to the finals of the Nature of Scotland Awards at a ceremony in Edinburgh at the end of November. If you would like to find out how you or your company can get involved in the One Million Trees campaign or help to support our landscape restoration in the Dee catchment, then visit the support page on our website – https://riverdee.org.uk/support/
Photo shows a young person from a small school in Aberdeenshire enjoys helping with the tree planting
For more information, please contact debbie@riverdee.org