Fewer cars, more trees. Future of Loch Lomond national park

“We would hope in the future to have a landscape less dominated by the private vehicle and more by public and active travel."

Reduction of emissions from cars is key to tackling climate change, but nationally, according to Transport Scotland, car-based travel is predicted to increase by 40% by 2037 if there is no intervention. 

Expanded public transport would also have the benefit of offering accessibility for a wider range of people. "I think," said Mr Jones, "we’re always going to see a wealth of people coming here for recreation because we know how important nature is to people. But currently, because of poor public transport, it is out of reach for a lot of people.”

"In our rural national park, pretty much the only way of getting around is with a private vehicle. That needs to change. We also hope to see a more diverse range of people enjoying the park and getting there by more sustainable forms of travel and transport - so there is less congestion by traffic. I don't think it means fewer people here. I think it needs fewer vehicles here.”

Getting us off our cars is just one of many changes that the park hopes will take place over the coming years as it tackles the climate crisis whilst also improving access for people.

The aspiration is built into the authority’s vision for 2045, which includes a range of other targets from the return of native wildlife through to “an increase in affordable housing”.

The National Park also has a five-year partnership plan that will guide how all of those with a role to play in looking after the National Park will work together to manage the Park and achieve a shared vision for the area. The draft plan was published earlier this year and put out for consultation. It is currently being refined before being put before Scottish ministers for approval.

Another aim included in the park’s vision statement is to draw more young people to live in the park. “I think in terms of the rural economy and population," said Mr Jones, "we would like to see a growing proportion of young people move into the park as a place that has affordable housing, quality work and good quality towns and villages where people can live in a healthy active environment.”

Some of the planned changes would result in transformation of how the landscape of the park looks. 

“We will," said Mr Jones, "see many of our landscapes change, not just in the park. We will see our landscapes change everywhere.  There's a mixture of drivers behind that.  Agriculture, for example, is changing anyway regardless of what we might buy into  as a strategic document.”

Tourism, he said, is also going to have to become greener. “We want the tourist economy to become more sustainable in terms of its environmental footprint.”

This will not, however, mean an end of farming. Far from it. Farming could be central to a plan where tourism focuses on more use of local food and drink.

"We're not saying that," said Mr Jones, "farming is going to have to stop. What we’re saying that it’s going to have to come more sustainable as is everything else we do. I think that we will see that food production, including livestock production, is still really important in the park. It's an incredibly important part of the identity of the area and the cultural heritage and the values of people.”

READ MORE: 'Rewilding' Is it a term now too green-washed to use?

READ MORE: Scotland must make peatland restoration 'new rural industry'

READ MORE: Peatland emissions cancel out carbon removed by forests

There will, however, likely be less deer and more trees. He said: “It makes sense to expand tree cover in some of the upland areas – but not everywhere. We hope to see a reduction in the pressures brought by too many grazing animals. We would like to see our forests and peatlands expand and become healthier; our peatlands restored so they stop emitting huge amounts of greenhouse gases because they’re so degraded in places.”

The National Park Authority has set a target of repairing 8000ha of peatlands by 2030 and plans to accelerate the rate of restoration from an average of 240ha per year to 640ha per year. This represents a significant increase on the 1147ha of damaged peatland restored across the National Park between 2018-2023.

Also part of the vision is a plan to tackle the impacts climate change is having on the environment through floods and landslides. Adaptation Scotland estimates that winter rainfall in Scotland will increase by 8–19% over the coming decades with rainfall events becoming more intense all year round, leading to an increase in flooding.

Among the areas impacted by landslides is the Rest and Be Thankful, the pass on the A83 which is the site of frequent blockage. Nature-based solutions are already being pioneered to mitigate this. “The idea,” said Mr Jones, “is that we plant trees and scrub in places to try and stabilise hillsides.”