A businessman bought a 23,000-acre Scottish sporting estate and spent two decades rewilding it

Deep in the Scottish Highlands, a process of regeneration is taking place An English businessman who bought a traditional 23,000-acre Scottish hunting estate in 2003 has spent more than two decades changing its heavily grazed landscape, planting one million native trees and successfully bringing red squirrels back to the glens. Paul Lister bought the Alladale estate in Sutherland, about an hour north of Inverness, when it was mainly used for traditional activities such as deer stalking and salmon fishing. Over the past 23 years, the property has been transformed into the Alladale Wilderness Reserve, an eco-tourism retreat and a major ecological restoration project in the Scottish Highlands.When Lister bought the estate, centuries of heavy grazing by large numbers of red deer and sheep had removed much of its native woodland. Only about one per cent of Scotland’s ancient Caledonian Forest remains intact. To help the land recover naturally, reserve managers fenced off large areas to keep grazing animals out and began a major tree-planting programme. Working with local environmental groups and forestry teams, the estate has planted one million native trees, including Scots pine, birch...