Reintroducing Wolves to Scottish Highlands Could Boost Woodlands, Study Finds

The reintroduction of wolves to the Scottish Highlands could help expand native woodlands, which could in turn absorb and sequester one million additional tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to a new study.

The research, led by scientists at the University of Leeds, modeled wolves’ potential impact in four areas of Scottish Wild Land, where increasing populations of red deer feeding on tree saplings is suppressing the natural regeneration of woodland trees, a press release from the University of Leeds said.

“There is an increasing acknowledgement that the climate and biodiversity crises cannot be managed in isolation,” said Dominick Spracklen, a professor of biosphere-atmosphere interactions in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, in the press release. “We need to look at the potential role of natural processes such as the reintroduction of species to recover our degraded ecosystems and these in turn can deliver co-benefits for climate and nature recovery.”

To estimate that the reintroduction effort to areas in the Southwest, Northwest and Central Highlands, as well as in the Cairngorms, would result in a total wolf population of approximately 167 wolves, the team used a predator-prey model. That number of wolves would be sufficient to reduce populations of red deer enough to allow trees to grow back naturally.

Reintroducing wolves to Scottish Highlands could help expand native woodlands, says study – Researchers say the animals could keep red deer numbers under control, leading to storage of 1m tonnes of CO2 www.theguardian.com/environment/…

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— Damian Carrington (@dpcarrington.bsky.social) February 17, 2025 at 4:19 AM

With wolves keeping the red deer population in check, native woodland could expand to take up 1.1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, or roughly five percent of the United Kingdom’s carbon removal target for woodlands. The UK Climate Change Committee has said that is the amount needed to achieve net-zero by 2050.

The researchers estimate the presence of each wolf would result in an uptake of 6,702 tons of carbon each year, giving each of the predators a carbon valuation “worth” of roughly $194,554.

The findings of the study, “Wolf reintroduction to Scotland could support substantial native woodland expansion and associated carbon sequestration,” were published in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

The research is the first time wolf reintroduction’s potential impacts on woodland expansion and the resulting carbon storage have been assessed in the UK. According to the research team, the results are further evidence that large carnivores play an important role in providing essential nature-based solutions to address the climate crisis.

Scotland eradicated its wolves roughly 250 years ago, which left red deer without natural predators. Red deer numbers in the country have exploded in the past century, despite ongoing management, with the most recent estimates as high as 400,000.

A lack of natural regeneration of trees has led to the decline and loss of Scotland’s native woodlands. Today, the country’s levels are some of the lowest in Europe, with just four percent of it covered in native woodland.

Natural tree regeneration has been largely restricted to fenced areas where deer are excluded. More intensive deer management has been proven to help trees regenerate, with seedling numbers rising when deer numbers are lower than four per square kilometer.

Western Europe’s wolf population is now more than 12,000, with wolves occupying 67 percent of their historical range in Europe, including in Central Europe’s human-dominated landscapes.

The researchers said the financial benefits of carbon uptake and storage that would come from reintroducing wolves to the Scottish Highlands would be added to other proven ecological and economic impacts of wolf reintroduction, such as ecotourism, a reduced number of deer-vehicle accidents, fewer cases of deer-associated Lyme disease and fewer deer culls.

“Our aim is to provide new information to inform ongoing and future discussions about the possibility of wolf reintroductions both in the UK and elsewhere,” said farmer and author Lee Schofield, who co-authored the study. “We recognise that substantial and wide-ranging stakeholder and public engagement would be essential before any wolf reintroduction could be considered. Human-wildlife conflicts involving carnivores are common and must be addressed through public policies that account for people’s attitudes for reintroduction to be successful.”