Overall purpose of management
Grosvenor’s Reay Forest Estate is a traditional rural estate focused on conservation and sporting activities, famed for deer, trout and salmon as well as its wild beauty and remote landscapes.
We work to protect, enhance, and restore the sensitive environmental habitats within Reay Forest and to improve local property and places.
Our aim is to be a leading example of sustainability within the rural economy – contributing to the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of our local communities.
Overview of management
In 2021, we implemented a 25-year strategy to guide the future management of the Reay Forest Estate.
The strategy provides the direction for the estate to deliver on its ambitions, contributing to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of our local communities by preserving, restoring and enhancing the local environment, improving financial sustainability, investing in people, supporting our local communities and co-operating with a broad range of stakeholders.
In 2021, we implemented a 25-year strategy to guide the future management of the Reay Forest Estate.
The strategy provides the direction for the estate to deliver on its ambitions, contributing to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of our local communities by preserving, restoring and enhancing the local environment, improving financial sustainability, investing in people, supporting our local communities and co-operating with a broad range of stakeholders.
Sensitive land management
The estate was awarded the highest score of any organisation in Europe that is accredited by Wildlife Estates, a respected international body that recognises exemplary land management and conservation practices. As part of its assessment, we became the first organisation in the UK to receive a gold accreditation.
Assessors described Reay Forest as “one of the leading examples in Scotland when it comes to species and habitat monitoring, enhancing biodiversity and delivering on landscape-scale projects”.
Revered for the beauty of its untouched landscapes, Reay Forest is considered one of Europe’s last remaining wildlands – areas that are largely unaffected by development – and is managed to protect, enhance and restore its sensitive natural environment.
We carefully manage our deer population.
Sensitive land management
The estate was awarded the highest score of any organisation in Europe that is accredited by Wildlife Estates, a respected international body that recognises exemplary land management and conservation practices. As part of its assessment, we became the first organisation in the UK to receive a gold accreditation.
Assessors described Reay Forest as “one of the leading examples in Scotland when it comes to species and habitat monitoring, enhancing biodiversity and delivering on landscape-scale projects”.
Revered for the beauty of its untouched landscapes, Reay Forest is considered one of Europe’s last remaining wildlands – areas that are largely unaffected by development – and is managed to protect, enhance and restore its sensitive natural environment.
We carefully manage our deer population.
Salmon conservation - Project Laxford
Working in partnership with conservation charity the Atlantic Salmon Trust (AST), we’re delivering a landscape-scale, ecosystem-wide, conservation project with the goal of restoring wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout populations.
The River Laxford has been a stronghold of wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout for centuries but in recent years their populations have seen a rapid decline, mirroring conditions throughout the North Atlantic.
Delivering this 10-year project, we hope to restore 118km2 of the landscape and plant up to a million trees, enhancing biodiversity and benefitting the whole ecosystem while enabling wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout to thrive. Project Laxford is one of the UK’s most extensive catchment-wide restoration projects and has been made possible through large-scale landownership which benefits from being under single management, and optimising the positive impacts of the works.
Find out more about Project Laxford here.
Delivering lasting commercial, social and environmental benefit
We provide sustainable employment opportunities, support local entrepreneurships and deliver a programme of educational visits. In 2022 we hosted two open days, one exclusively for local school children and a second for the public, where we welcomed over 250 people to learn more about how the estate is working to deliver a lasting commercial, social and environmental benefit.
We will continue to support plans for a community owned visitor centre which will house the Shelley Collection, one of the foremost collections of rare stones, minerals and fossils - acquired by the Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family to ensure it would remain in the Highlands. The proposed facility and visitor attraction will provide a lasting socioeconomic benefit to the community, boosting tourism, creating new employment opportunities as well as an amenity for the wider region.
Alignment with local or national plans
Reay Forest has six Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), areas which NatureScot considers to best represent the country’s natural environment, notably Foinaven which supports a typical range of upland habitats and species and is one of the largest designated sites in the UK.
There are two internationally important Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) safeguarding rare habitats and a designated Special Protection Area (SPA) for endangered birds – the Foinaven SPA which is designated for its golden eagles, of which there are several known breeding pairs on the estate as well as white tailed eagles.
We are proud to work with our local communities and partner organisations to help us meet our goals, including Marine Scotland Directorate, West Sutherland Fisheries Trust, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), deer management groups and Nature Scot.
The neighbouring communities of Scourie, which marches the west of the estate, Kinlochbervie and Durness to the north west, and Lairg – some 30 miles to the south east – support the estate with local services.
We are a significant employer in the region, just one of the ways we contribute to the rural economy. Many of our employees live and work on the estate and play an active part in the wider communities in the region, as part of local community councils, volunteer fire service and mountain rescue services, as well as supporting food banks and churches.
We will continue to support plans for a community owned visitor centre which will house the Shelley Collection, one of the foremost collections of rare stones, minerals and fossils - acquired by the Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family to ensure it would remain in the Highlands. The proposed facility and visitor attraction will provide a lasting socioeconomic benefit to the community, boosting tourism, creating new employment opportunities as well as an amenity for the wider region.
Alignment with local or national plans
Reay Forest has six Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), areas which NatureScot considers to best represent the country’s natural environment, notably Foinaven which supports a typical range of upland habitats and species and is one of the largest designated sites in the UK.
There are two internationally important Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) safeguarding rare habitats and a designated Special Protection Area (SPA) for endangered birds – the Foinaven SPA which is designated for its golden eagles, of which there are several known breeding pairs on the estate as well as white tailed eagles.
We are proud to work with our local communities and partner organisations to help us meet our goals, including Marine Scotland Directorate, West Sutherland Fisheries Trust, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), deer management groups and Nature Scot.
The neighbouring communities of Scourie, which marches the west of the estate, Kinlochbervie and Durness to the north west, and Lairg – some 30 miles to the south east – support the estate with local services.
We are a significant employer in the region, just one of the ways we contribute to the rural economy. Many of our employees live and work on the estate and play an active part in the wider communities in the region, as part of local community councils, volunteer fire service and mountain rescue services, as well as supporting food banks and churches.
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