Scottish Forestry has approved plans by Oxygen Conservation to deliver and manage a large-scale native woodland creation at Invergeldie Estate near Comrie, restoring more than 2,500 acres of upland landscape through the planting of approximately 1.5 million native broadleaf trees.
The approval marks one of the most significant woodland creation schemes ever consented in Scotland and represents a major milestone for Oxygen Conservation as it scales the delivery of complex, landscape-scale restoration projects across the UK.
Years of design, consultation and collaboration
With formal approval now secured, Oxygen Conservation is moving decisively from design into delivery at Invergeldie. Early-stage works are already underway, led by specialist upland restoration contractors Taiga Upland, establishing the foundation required to support a woodland creation project of this scale. Tree planting will start in spring 2026, continuing over multiple seasons to ensure quality, resilience and long-term success.
Reaching this point has taken more than two and a half years of intensive design work, extensive consultation with community groups and ecological due diligence. This process has focused on understanding how woodland can be established across a large, complex upland estate in a way that is robust and capable of delivering enduring environmental value. This approval represents a clear transition from complexity to execution, unlocking delivery at a scale few projects in Scotland have achieved.
Chris Winter, Director of Natural Capital at Oxygen Conservation, said:
“Projects of this scale only succeed when they are approached with an unreasonable level of attention to detail. Invergeldie has been shaped by years of intensive ecological design, iteration and collaboration to ensure the right woodland is established in the right places, for the long term.”
Developed in partnership with Scottish regenerative forestry consultancy TreeStory, the project adopts a landscape-led approach to woodland creation rather than simply maximising tree numbers in isolation. Planting has been designed to respond to altitude, soils, hydrology and existing land cover, with planting patterns transitioning across the estate from lower-lying native broadleaf woodland to more open, structured montane woodland at higher elevations across Glen Lednock and the slopes of Ben Chonzie.
Gordon Brown, Co-Founder & CEO at TreeStory said:
“Invergeldie really captures the ethos behind why we built TreeStory. This wasn’t a project designed from a desk, it was shaped by spending time on the ground, walking the estate again and again, and gaining a deep understanding of the landscape, its intricate landlines, and the ecology they support. Between us, we walked well over 700 kilometres designing this project, testing ideas, and understanding where woodland genuinely belongs, not just where trees can grow, but where native woodland creation can deliver the greatest benefits for nature.”
The project is registered under the Woodland Carbon Code and is forecast to generate over 350,000 tonnes of high-integrity woodland carbon removal credits, alongside the long-term sequestration of an additional 126,758 tonnes of carbon over a 100-year period, anchored in landscape-scale ecological restoration.
Conservation at the scale the challenge demands
As Scotland confronts accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss, incremental approaches are no longer sufficient. Delivering meaningful environmental recovery now requires projects capable of operating at the scale of entire landscapes.
A contribution of £3.3 million over two phases through the Forestry Grant Scheme will play a vital role in enabling restoration at this scale, helping to translate national policy ambition into long-term, on-the-ground delivery across complex upland landscapes.
Invergeldie demonstrates how aligned private investment and public funding through the Forestry Grant Scheme can unlock high-quality woodland creation at a scale capable of strengthening ecological resilience across entire landscape systems. This model is underpinned by Oxygen Conservation’s commitment of over £4 million of private capital over the next two years, alongside robust regulatory approval and access to natural capital markets.
Chris Winter, Director of Natural Capital, of Oxygen Conservation, said:
“This approval marks a defining moment not just for Invergeldie, but for the development of the UK woodland carbon market. It signals a shift from ambition to execution, where significant volumes of private capital and public funding are now being deployed to deliver premium-quality, high-integrity carbon credits at a landscape scale. With delivery now underway, Invergeldie demonstrates what is possible when rigorous design and long-term private investment are brought together to meet the climate and nature challenge at the scale it demands.”
Looking ahead
Woodland creation at Invergeldie forms part of a wider estate masterplan designed to restore nature across an entire upland landscape. Alongside woodland creation, the masterplan brings together peatland restoration, river and riparian habitat recovery and wider biodiversity enhancement within a single, integrated restoration strategy.
Gordon Brown, Co-Founder & CEO at TreeStory said:
“I’m incredibly proud of the TreeStory team for the care, patience and depth of thinking they’ve brought to Invergeldie. Creating woodland at this scale only works when it’s rooted in a real relationship with place, and this approval reflects years of listening, to the landscape, its habitats, its biodiversity, and the people connected to it. This project is about more than planting trees: it’s about restoring native woodland in a way that strengthens ecological networks, expands and connects habitats, and creates the conditions for wildlife to thrive, from woodland plants and fungi to birds, insects and mammals. It’s a huge milestone for the project, and for what thoughtful, landscape-led forestry and nature restoration can achieve in Scotland. We can’t wait to start planting!”
Oxygen Conservation has undertaken sustained community engagement at Invergeldie through a programme of walk-and-talks, drop-in events and public meetings, alongside ongoing dialogue with local stakeholders. This engagement has informed the development of a structured community benefit approach that sits alongside, and supports, the long-term delivery of the Invergeldie masterplan.
As part of the estate’s wider social impact strategy, Oxygen Conservation has launched a pilot of its unique Oxygen Accelerator programme at Invergeldie. The Accelerator is designed to help build the next generation of businesses required to grow the natural capital sector and deliver high-quality nature restoration at scale.
The pilot programme has been launched with a specialist local business delivering herbivore management and environmental restoration services at Invergeldie. Through the pilot, Oxygen Conservation is providing not only financial support but drone training, long-term contract security, access to proprietary data software, venison donations to a local foodbank, and investment in drone-based surveying and monitoring capability to support evidence-led decision-making.
Oxygen Conservation plans to expand the Oxygen Accelerator this year, with the programme opening to additional local businesses and community members who will be invited to submit proposals for enterprises that can contribute to the delivery and long-term stewardship of the Invergeldie Estate and the wider natural capital sector.
More information on the Invergeldie Estate Masterplan can be found at: masterplan.invergeldie.com
For all media enquiries, please contact:
Abbey Dudas, Marketing Manager
abbey.dudas@oxygenconservation.com