Loch Katrine Land Management Plan

The Land Management Plan (LMP) for Loch Katrine sets out the management objectives for the LMP area, which includes the land managed by Forestry and Land Scotland around Loch Katrine and Loch Arklet, for a ten year period – but also considers long term aspirations for the area.

This LMP is situated in the heart of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (LLTNP), which was the first national park formed within Scotland, (see map below: M1 Location and Context). The catchment forms part of a strategic water supply managed by Scottish Water, which supplies much of the central belt of Scotland. Scottish Water are the current landowners of the catchment which includes Loch Katrine and Loch Arklet. In 2005 Scottish Water commissioned a long term lease to Forestry and Land Scotland (then Forestry Commission Scotland) over a period of 150 years.

This LMP will be the first revision of the original Forest Design plan (FDP), which was approved in 2008, as undertaken by Forest Enterprise Scotland (FES) at the time, now Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS).

Long term vision

To protect the existing native woodland and encourage its expansion into the higher elevations, linking woodland from the Loch shore up into the hills. This development and recovery of habitats will take time, and can only be achieved through a strategic and long term management of the herbivore impacts, promoting a healthy and sustainable population of deer throughout the wider landscape.

The Loch Katrine reservoir forms a strategic water supply for Central Scotland, and in a changing climate future resilience within the catchment will be key to buffering and protecting the Loch, especially from extreme events such as landslides. Capture of carbon in both woodland creation and peatland restoration, achieved through woodland creation and a rewetting of peatland areas, will help to restore a functioning ecosystem which will contribute towards government targets and follow current policies.

Wherever possible, natural processes of succession will be encouraged to develop within the catchment, playing out over long time periods to enable the evolution of a long term dynamic ecosystem which can adapt to changes in the climate well into the future. As well as improving the biodiversity of both flora and fauna within the Great Trossachs Forest National Nature Reserve (NNR).

Tourism and recreation are also on the increase and both woodland creation and a variety of open habitats will make a positive contribution to the wider local landscape.