Trails for the Environment - The Trail Feathers Project

In this podcast we get a fascinating insight into a project where mountain bikers are a leading light in Capercaillie conservation, helping to preserve and enhance the rare and vulnerable habitat for the critically endangered Capercaillie. The ‘Trail Feathers Project’, funded by the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, has involved the whole mountain bike community, Badenoch and Strathspey Trail Association, land managers and conservationists.

With only a few hundred remaining in Scotland, the vast majority of which are in the Badenoch and Strathspey area, and mountain biking increasing in the Cairngorms, a solution was needed to protect the environment for caper to flourish with minimal disturbance, while allowing riders to still venture into the forests with the knowledge that they are minimising their footprint in more sensitive areas.

Find out more about the depth of this project, the trail mapping of the area, the communities involved and their reaction, the involvement of young trail builders as part of the Trail Academy, the new trails that have been developed and the potential impact of this project as an exemplar in other areas of conservation and across not just Scottish mountain biking, but other outdoor sports too.

Many thanks to Douglas Carchrie, Badenoch and Strathspey Trail Development Coordinator for Cairngorms National Park Authority and Emma Holgate Chair of Badenoch and Strathspey Trail Association and Senior Instructor at Glenmore Lodge for taking the time to speak to us.