A bid is expected to be submitted by early next year to have parts of Europe’s largest blanket bog peatlands declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Called the Flow Country, the area of lochs, hills and treeless peatbogs stretches across almost half a million acres of Caithness and northern Sutherland.
It includes swathes of treeless peatbog and also lochs, lochans and hills.
Bogs in the tundra-like landscape have been growing since the end of the last Ice Age more than 10,000 years ago.
The Flow Country Partnership hopes to secure Unesco status for seven areas totalling 49,421 acres (20,000ha), which it believes meets the required criteria.
The partnership has started consultation on the proposed boundaries and has now made a draft management plan available for public scrutiny.
If successful, the Flow Country would be the first peatlands on the World Heritage List and would join other internationally important natural areas, such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and the Serengeti in Tanzania.
