Riverwoods Blueprint Project
Summary
Scotland’s rivers weave through landscapes that have sustained people and wildlife for centuries. Yet the decline of river woodlands, vital for maintaining water quality, biodiversity, and climate resilience, has left many waterways exposed to rising temperatures, erosion, and habitat loss. Without coordinated action, this threatens iconic species such as wild Atlantic salmon, freshwater pearl mussels and otters.
65% of Scotland’s rivers have insufficient tree cover to protect them from climate-induced warming.
Riverwoods is a pioneering national partnership, launched in 2019, uniting environmental charities, rivers and fisheries trusts, statutory agencies, industry and research bodies to restore these vital ecosystems. The Riverwoods Blueprint is a five-year project at the heart of this initiative, turning on-the-ground experience into a practical, scalable model and route map for restoring Scotland’s river woodlands.
By equipping land managers, practitioners, and communities with the tools to design, fund, and deliver projects more effectively, we can help ensure the long-term health of our river ecosystems, critical for the survival of our native salmonids, including wild Atlantic salmon.
Outputs
As a delivery partner of the project, Fisheries Management Scotland leads two key Blueprint workstreams — Advocacy and the Digital Centre — designed to accelerate restoration and strengthen Scotland’s capacity for coordinated river catchment recovery.
The Advocacy workstream keeps riparian woodland restoration high on the national policy agenda by working with government, agencies, land managers and the wider conservation sector to build an enabling policy, regulatory and funding environment.
The Digital Centre of Excellence is a developing national hub for collaboration, showcasing projects, sharing best practice, and hosting tools, datasets and funding information. The Digital Centre provides a central platform to connect practitioners, researchers and funders, strengthening knowledge exchange and supporting effective delivery of riparian woodland restoration.
Funding
The Riverwoods Blueprint is a five-year, £2.9 million project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Partners
The Blueprint Project is led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust in partnership with Fisheries Management Scotland, Buglife, Woodland Trust Scotland, Tweed Forum, Kyle of Sutherland Rivers Trust and Spey Catchment Initiative.
