Britain’s largest rewilding landscape launches as new charity - Rewilding Affric Highlands
Vast Highlands initiative to boost nature, re-peopling, rural livelihoods and economic opportunities including sustainable timber, venison, fishing, farming, wildlife tourism
The UK’s largest rewilding landscape, Affric Highlands, has launched as an independent charity with the aim of restoring nature across more than 200,000 hectares of the central Highlands over the next 30 years, to benefit nature, climate and people.
The community-focused initiative brings together a broad partnership of landowners, local people and others to restore native woodland, peatland and riverside habitats, and boost wildlife across a linked network of landholdings stretching from Loch Ness to the west coast.
It will rewild the landscape and allow nature to connect and thrive across large areas – creating social and economic benefits for communities, supporting re-peopling, and tackling the climate and nature emergencies.
Affric Highlands will work with local landowners to strengthen land-based rural livelihoods and nature-based economic opportunities, making the region a hub for sustainable timber, fishing, farming, venison and wildlife tourism. This will include the creation of a network of businesses benefitting from rewilding.
“Affric Highlands is a community focused vision of hope. It’s hugely inspiring to be setting out as a new charity on this ambitious 30-year journey to take large-scale nature recovery to a new level,” said Affric Highlands executive director Stephanie Kiel. “We want to create new opportunities and real benefits for local landowners, communities and rural economies, so nature, people and livelihoods can all thrive together.”
Restoring habitats will boost biodiversity and benefit wildlife including golden eagles, red squirrels, black grouse, mountain hares, salmon, trout, ospreys and otters.
Posted On: 08/05/2025
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