Prior to the creation of the NNR, a small woodland plantation was established to the north of the loch as policies for an estate lodge which was never built.

In the intervening period, native species such as birch, alder, hazel, rowan and aspen have been planted or become established and it is now an important site for woodland birds, which are otherwise scarce in the Hebrides.

By the 1990s, the Rhododendron ponticum had engulfed large areas of the plantation and was spreading onto adjacent land and some of the islands in Loch Druidibeg.

Scottish Natural Heritage Area Officer, Gail Churchill, responded by initiating a plan for the restoration of the woodland for educational and amenity purposes.

1,043 hectares (2,580 acres) of freshwater and moorland, with some croftland, was owned by Scottish Natural Heritage (bought in 1958); 643 hectares (1,590 acres) acquired in 1962 under a management agreement with the owners South Uist Estates and the crofters occupying and managing the croftland/grazings.