The Cairngorms are a unique landscape, celebrated around the world. They include Britain's biggest National Park. Due to their exceptional wild and natural qualities they have been proposed as a World Heritage Site.
The area is of outstanding national and international value for nature conservation:-
- one of the most important areas for mountain wildlife in the European Union;
- a concentration of glacial and post-glacial land forms (matched only by Baffin Island and Labrador);
- the home for many scarce plants, insects, birds and mammals with arctic or northern distributions - such as twinflower, capercaillie, dotterel and mountain hare;
- heartland of the remaining Caledonian woods - outliers of the boreal forest which are national monuments as important as, say any cathedrals;
- the bed for some of the least polluted rivers in Britain, including the world-famous Spey and Dee;
- breeding ground for uncommon wading birds and birds of prey, many of which are now rare in the UK;
- a land worked by generations of farmers, crofters, stalkers and gamekeepers
The
more adventurous find in the Cairngorms fulfilment from some of the
remotest and wildest mountain tops and arctic high plateaux, offering
vast and spacious views. The Cairngorms also contain the biggest granite
cliffs anywhere in the British Isles, offering a vast array of climbs
at all grades in both summer and winter. The area also offers some superlative
ski mountaineering beyond the crowds on Cairn Gorm itself.
The Cairngorms have a unique place in Europe and the history of Scotland. That special significance has long been recognised, for example leading to the call at the World Wilderness Conference at Findhorn in 1983 to designate the area as a World Heritage Site and, more recently, listing of the area by the UK government for future World Heritage Site designation.
It
is also one of the finest landscapes in Europe, comprising the largest
mass of high and wild land in the United Kingdom and including five
summits above 4000 feet.
The rolling granite plateaux are broken by deep glaciated glens and
impressive corries which shelter high lochans. The feeling of remoteness
and the expansive views are enjoyed by many hill users.
In contrast to the wilderness of the plateaux, there are vast tracts of heather moorland and some of the most extensive remnants of old Caledonian pine woods. Birch woodland, marshes, meandering rivers, and remote glens all add to the diversity of scenery and wild land experience, while a range of historical and archaeological remains record the cultural history of this landscape. Farming in the more fertile straths, harvesting of the timber, and management of the heaths and woods have helped to shape the landscape, and all will play a significant role in its future.
All
these features are integral parts of the area and they have long been
recognised as attractions not just to local people but also to visitors
from the rest of this country and from all over the world - international
assets of immense value. The diversity is one of the main appeals of
the area: the hill walker may be a knowledgeable botanist, and the rock
climber a keen downhill skier, but most recognise the fundamental spiritual
value of the superb landscape in which they take their recreation.
The Cairngorms area is unusual in Britain, and indeed western Europe, for its past human history and culture. It was the eastern extent of the Highland clan system, and hence the eastern edge was a major historical and cultural boundary for centuries and it was heavily raided by clan freebooters from less fertile glens further west, and was traversed by them on their way to raid the lowlands to the east.
The eastern edge was a major linguistic boundary for centuries, marking the division between Gaelic to the west and lowland Scots speech to the east. This is very unusual and is of great interest for linguistic studies.
Formerly there was much social interchange across the hills on old drove roads so the Gaelic spoken on either side of the hill was similar. Virtually the only contact now is by long, roundabout public roads around the Cairngorms resulting in the local vernacular speech of Aviemore differing greatly from that of Deeside. These points make the Cairngorms an area of great interest in terms of human history, culture and language.