Ardura Community Forest: A Restoration Project

Back in 2019, Mull and Iona Community Trust (MICT) successfully took ownership of a 200-hectare forest on the Isle of Mull in Scotland . This was made possible by financial support from the Scottish Land Fund and many other generous donors. Community backing provided momentum, with an island-wide survey highlighting the desire to protect and enhance the natural environment as a priority. Previously a Forest and Land Scotland holding, the site became ‘Ardura Community Forest’, with work starting to explore how best to utilise this community asset.

Early projects included developing a Biodiversity Action Plan and conducting a dendrochronological survey. The results of core sampling and dating oak and holly trees within the remnants of ancient woodland, along with the study of historical maps and literature, supported our decision-making on future management. It was found that Ardura was a drover’s route used to move livestock to markets, not a site of a displaced or cleared community. We were able to confidently move forward on plans to focus on nature restoration , rather than explore options to reinstate a lost settlement—some of our nearby community-owned woodlands on the Isle of Mull host woodland crofts to repopulate the areas. The dendrochronological dating of trees placed the oldest sample, a Holly tree, at 1733. It also highlighted that ancient oak trees had been purposely felled to allow the commercial planting of Sitka spruce.

In the following years, almost 110 hectares of mature Sitka spruce have been harvested, the first step in restoring native woodland across Planted Ancient Woodland Sites. Much of our day-to-day conservation work relies on community volunteers to undertake tasks such as removing invasive non-native species, planting trees, installing leaky dams, and monitoring species. Some technologies we currently benefit from include camera traps and thermal drone surveys to support our deer management plans. During recent harvesting works, MICT staff and contractors used QR codes on watercourses to monitor water quality and report pollution incidents, enabling quick on-site responses.

Moving forward, there is a balance to be considered between harnessing newer technologies and our community's connection to a space that ultimately belongs to them. It can work both ways. Passive acoustic monitoring for birds and bats is now more financially accessible. It offers a non-invasive method for detecting species on-site, generating data that specialists or even AI can analyse. The pros for the organisation include reduced volunteer management, more data across a wider area and over a longer period of time, and definitive species identification . However, we want to continue engaging with the local wildlife group that volunteers to conduct breeding bird surveys each year. Alternatively, some technology can support community connection by providing novel ways to engage with the space. We’re hoping to install fixed photography points across the forest and encourage a citizen science project to capture the changing landscape over time. This takes something typically done by staff internally and opens it up to the wider community.

Bringing together both technology and community can bring exciting opportunities and complex challenges. In reality, both are vital for delivering a restoration project amid an ever-changing funding landscape, time constraints, and the need for accurate, evidence-based monitoring. The ideal would be for all technologies to be community-led, offering local people the chance to upskill and take ownership of technological advancements. Thankfully, numerous community-owned woodland projects across Scotland are also working through this and showcasing excellent examples, ranging from seeding woodlands by drone to collecting LiDAR data to exploring species through eDNA. We can learn alongside these technological advances and bring our community on board, too.