Angela Finlayson discovers how horse power is helping to restore Scotland’s ancient rainforest.
IF you go down to the woods today – specifically, the woods on the shores of Loch Arkaig in Lochaber – then you could be in for a very big surprise. For you might just find yourself coming face to face with Tarzan!
This Tarzan, though, is more gentle giant of the forest than king of the jungle. He is a gorgeous chestnut Comtois horse who, together with his handler, Simon Dakin of Blue Green Conservation, is carrying out crucially important work in one of the UK’s rarest and most precious habitats.
Loch Arkaig Forest is home to one of the few surviving remnants of native Caledonian pinewood, which is increasingly being crowded out by large numbers of non-native conifers that were planted in the area in the 1960s.
The site is cared for by Woodland Trust Scotland in partnership with local group Arkaig Community Forest, and they’ve embarked on a five-year project to restore the woodland.
This involves removing over 70,000 tonnes of Sitka spruce and lodgepole pine so that the native species can start to re-establish themselves and regenerate the ancient rainforest.
In this sensitive environment, great care is needed when undertaking such an operation to avoid doing further damage to the surroundings. And that’s where logging horse Tarzan and handler Simon come in.
A great many of the trees being felled will be removed from the site by the one-horse-power wonder that is Tarzan.
A horse causes far less disturbance to the ground than heavy machinery, and hoofprints and tracks that Tarzan leaves behind provide ideal seeding conditions for native tree species.
The Comtois is a draught horse breed that originated in the Jura Mountains between France and Switzerland.
Originally used for pulling loads and working on farms, these stocky, powerful little horses have a kind and steady temperament and are quick to learn, making them ideal for forestry work.
Tarzan has perhaps had more to learn than most! It’s not every horse that would be comfortable travelling to work on a barge, but Tarzan takes it all in his stride.
Part of the forest, known as the Gusach, is so remote that the only practical way to reach it is
