Land

27 diverse projects will share over £3.6 million this year; approximately £1.8 million from public funds and another £1.8 million matched by The National Lottery Heritage Fund through Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) funding.

A remote ancient woodland – home to Scotland’s oldest wild Scots pine, which is at least 565-years-old – has been saved from being lost forever and given a chance of regeneration thanks to Trees for Life, as part of the charity’s vast Affric Highlands rewilding initiative. 

A Loch Lomond hill farmer has raised an incredible £13,340 for RSABI and Diabetes UK by hosting a stock judging event in memory of her mum and sister. 

A new glasshouse that’s almost as big as two football pitches and capable of producing up to 19 million trees a year for planting out into the forests of the future, will soon be built at a nursery in Scotland.

Forestry & Land Scotland’s (FLS) Newton Nursery is set for a major modernisation in 2024 that will see the nursery provide more trees to support Scotland’s ambitious tree planting targets while also providing FLS with greater self-sufficiency.

Anyone who has been involved with agriculture for up to five years could now get £500 towards the cost of training from the Scottish Government’s Next Generation fund.

Managed by Lantra Scotland, the fund is open to both men and women, including students and those already in full-time or part-time work, regardless of age.

Integrated Land Use Conference 2024

The Integrated Land Use conference will take place 26 - 28 March 2024 in, and around Kingussie.

This year will be focussing on where we have come from and where we are going in terms of land management and use. What has changed and what has worked. Many aspects will be discussed like community, attitude/behaviour evolution, inclusivity, diversity, forestry, agriculture, wildlife and game management, energy, tourism and many more exciting topics.

Creative Climate Journaling

Where are you with your climate writing? Where do you want to go? How does it connect to your action, to your wishes about the future or memories you want to preserve?

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced writer, struggling or thriving, these might be some of the questions you face at the start of a new year of writing.

We would like to invite you for a one hour session before lunch for a reflection on your writing and your writing goals guided by Story Weavers Joana Avi-Lorie and Lesley Anne Rose and alongside a group of fellow writers and storytellers.

A new report commissioned by the Scottish Wildlife Trust highlights the transformative potential of nature-based solutions for Scottish farms and crofts. Nature-based solutions can aid farmers and land managers in mitigating climate change impacts by improving soil health, water retention, and resilience to wildfires, floods and heatwaves.

On the UN’s World Soil Day (5 December), NatureScot  published Scotland’s Soil Sealing Indicator 2020, a biodiversity report on the soil sealing which exists in Scotland as a result of the built environment. It has found that the overall percentage of soil sealing has risen from 1.55% in 2009 to 1.89% in 2020.

Women in Agriculture Conference

This one-day conference will give you the opportunity to further your knowledge on a range of topics through seminars and break out sessions.

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