A huge net will be installed on the slopes of hills beside Loch Ness to prevent rocks and felled trees falling onto one of the Highlands’ busiest tourist routes.
Forestry Commission Scotland is searching for a contractor to create the high tensile fence above Primrose Bay, near Allt Sigh.
The temporary structure will be used for up to five years while the commission carries out logging operations in the local area next year.
The fence will be nearly 10ft high and involve a series of 164ft-long overlapping panels. It could stretch for more than 600 yards in total.
Companies have until 1pm on December 7 to submit their tender for the work.
A commission spokesman said: “The harvesting operations planned for 2016 are part of a much larger programme of harvesting and slope stability operations in Forest Enterprises Scotland’s (FES) A82 Project along Loch Ness side.
“It could take a further 10-15 years to complete and is a significant investment by FES into the longer-term resilience of the A82. If the trees aren’t felled then the risk of them blowing down will increase, which in turn will also increase the risk of rock falls like the incident in March of this year which closed the A82.
“All the harvesting in this next stage will be carried out under “red to red” traffic management. The fence, which will be installed in advance of harvesting to protect the A82 from rocks that may be dislodged during the skyline harvesting operations, is an additional, “belt and braces”, measure to ensure public safety.
“We have used similar fences in our Glen Righ geotechnical operations during rock scaling. The fence will use trees as the support posts so is only a temporary structure; not likely to remain beyond 3-5 years.”