The hill's lower northern slopes are the site of the Morrone Birkwood Special Area of Conservation, managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. Floristically unaltered since the end of the last ice age, it is the sole surviving example in Britain of a sub-alpine birch-juniper wood on basic soils. It is also the most extensive and diverse example of a transition between woodland and juniper scrub in the UK. Some of the stands of juniper are the largest and most diverse in Scotland, and it has an extensive range of rare flora such as twinflower, interrupted club moss and globeflower. There are tufa-forming springs on the site, and it is the habitat of the endangered Geyer's whorl snail. In the past the wood has been subject to high levels of grazing by deer, but since its declaration as a conservation area, the wood has been fenced to exclude deer and some natural regeneration has taken place.