The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative is an exciting and ambitious partnership project delivering an innovative community-based strategic approach to the management of Invasive Non-Native Species on a landscape-scale along rivers in northern Scotland. The Initiative engages with local communities, landowners and volunteers to systematically tackle invasive species across 43 river catchments. Control is coordinated over an area of 29,500km2 – over a third of mainland Scotland – making this the largest, most ambitious, invasive species control project in Great Britain. By actively engaging communities with local freshwater environments, we protect and restore Scotland’s waterways, landscapes and biodiversity for us all.
Invasive non-native species are a major threat to global biodiversity and the single biggest factor impacting protected site condition in Scotland. Invasive species establish readily, spread quickly and are stubborn (and expensive) to remove - often requiring many years of repeat treatments. Because rivers and lochs provide ecological transmission corridors they are vulnerable to invasion by and spread of invasive species. They threaten freshwater ecosystems and our wider environment with serious impacts including biodiversity loss (e.g. of native vegetation, pollinators and ecosystem function), increased riverbank erosion and flooding, and risk to human health (e.g. from phototoxic sap).
The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative was created to tackle this problem using an innovative management approach - embedding invasive species control with local communities, upskilling volunteers and working with landowners to build a legacy of control lasting beyond the project. In total 2,846 people have volunteered and contributed to invasive species control and volunteer input to the project has totalled 15,324 volunteer days (104,159 volunteer hours total; equivalent of 73 staff for one year), demonstrating the value of the partnerships formed. Working on a landscape scale – across 43 river catchments and over an area of 29,500km2 – we identify sources in each catchment and work strategically and collaboratively to tackle the problem on a “source to sea” basis. Control is targeted at the most problematic plant species (including giant hogweed, Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam) and the American mink which has devastating effects on native wildlife. Its priority listing in the ‘Scottish Biodiversity Route Map 2020’ and recognition in the ‘Biodiversity strategy to 2045: tackling the nature emergency’ show the Initiative’s importance to Scottish biodiversity conservation.
Find out more about the finalists for the Helping it Happen Awards 2023