Lasers and AI Just Counted Six Million Trees in the Scottish Highlands, And 2.65 Million Are Brand New

Scientists from Cambridge took to the skies over Cairngorms National Park in a light aircraft, scanned 569 square kilometres with LiDAR technology and AI, and came back with a number that feels almost unreal: six million trees. Even better, more than 2.65 million of those are young, newly growing trees, meaning the forest isn’t just holding its ground. It’s expanding.

This matters because the Cairngorms, the UK’s largest national park, has dealt with wildfire, overuse, and a changing climate. The survey gives the Cairngorms Connect partnership something powerful for its 200-year restoration plan: proof, at a landscape scale, that the work is paying off. Researchers called it a breakthrough for monitoring nature restoration, and honestly, watching a comeback get measured tree by tree is the kind of climate news we rarely get.

One surprise from the data? New trees are rooting more easily in dry ground than in wet, boggy soil, which means the land itself is teaching restorers where to focus next. So here’s our question for you: if you could see one place on Earth restored over the next 200 years, where would you pick?