Major grant for charity is “fantastic news” for Scotland’s natural heritage

Award-winning conservation charity Trees for Life has received grant approval for £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards planning work for its innovative Dundreggan project in Glen Moriston.

[UKPRwire, Mon May 14 2007] Award-winning conservation charity Trees for Life has received grant approval for £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards planning work for its innovative Dundreggan project in Glen Moriston. This funding will enable Trees for Life to conduct detailed biological surveys and develop a management strategy for the 10,000 acre Dundreggan Estate in the Scottish Highlands, which the charity expects to complete the purchase of in the near future.

Trees for Life’s Founder and Executive Director, Alan Watson Featherstone, said: “This significant support from the Heritage Lottery Fund is fantastic news. It is powerful recognition of the biological importance of the Dundreggan estate, with its outstanding juniper woodlands and rare species such as wood ants and black grouse. This grant is a major boost for the long-term recovery of the Caledonian Forest there, and it will help to establish a native woodland corridor linking Glen Moriston with Glen Affric.”

The grant will enable Trees for Life to employ a new member of staff specifically to draft a management plan and oversee the extensive biological surveys to be carried out on Dundreggan later this year. It will also provide the launch pad for a further funding application to the Heritage Lottery Fund in future for the implementation of the management plan on the estate.

Sarah Bronsdon, Senior Grants Officer at the Heritage Lottery Fund said “We are delighted to be able to support Trees for Life in carrying out this vital planning work. It will give them a solid foundation upon which to make decisions about the future of the estate and it’s valuable natural heritage as well as contribute important information to Scotland’s biodiversity records.”

The Caledonian Forest is a vital habitat that is Scotland’s equivalent of the rainforests, and is home to a unique range of wildlife, from red squirrels and pine martens to the capercaillie and wood ants. Trees for Life is the only organisation specifically dedicated to its restoration, complete with all its wildlife species, to a substantial part of its former range in the Highlands.

To join Trees for Life, to dedicate a tree or grove, or to join a volunteer Work Week planting trees, visit www.treesforlife.org.uk or call 01309 691292.

Ends
Notes to editors
1. Trees for Life is a pioneering charity in ecological restoration. It aims to restore the Caledonian Forest to an area of 1,500 square kilometres in the Highlands west of Inverness. Today only 1% of the original Caledonian Forest remains.
2. Since planting its first trees in 1991 in Glen Affric, Trees for Life has planted over half a million native trees in the Highlands. It has won several awards for its conservation work, including UK Conservation Project of the Year in 1991. In 2007, Trees for Life has pledged to plant 100,000 native trees, as their commitment towards the Billion Tree Campaign launched by the United Nations Environment Programme last November.
3. For more information on the Heritage Lottery Fund visit http://www.hlf.org.uk/English/

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