Living futures: Conversations about community, nature and enterprise
At the side of the road going through the Tayvallich estate, the estate manager, Ewan, has a small refrigerated shed where deer stalked are hung and then sold to locals for them to butcher. Small now, but there are plans for this. The idea is that in time, as more deer are stalked, we can help to develop a community larder, run by and for people on the estate, which will sell local, sustainable, healthy, low carbon food whilst also keeping deer numbers down for nature restoration.
This is just one proposal being developed in conversation with the communities at the three Highland Rewilding estates of Tayvallich, Beldorney and Bunloit as we aim to ensure that community benefit is at the forefront of our work, alongside nature restoration and environmental action.
Community and community wellbeing are at the centre of many current discussions about conservation and rewilding. How can we protect living ecosystems and also ensure human communities thrive? Highlands Rewilding aims to be at the centre of these initiatives. Several things that have been going on recently on our estates, all aimed to engage and give back to communities.
First, through FIRNS (The Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland), Highlands Rewilding has a budget to develop a series of joint ventures and business enterprises that are being worked up with stakeholders in events and discussions, consultations and debates. We are inviting the community to create ideas with us for small local enterprises and business ventures that will bring benefits to the community while protecting natural and cultural heritage. These joint venture enterprises, whether a community café or a market garden, are developed jointly by Highlands Rewilding and the communities local to the land we manage in order for people to benefit from improvements in natural and cultural heritage.
Second, we are engaged in land management plans that take into consideration community wants and needs. Whether that’s consulting the community about how plans for rewilding, eco-building or access should develop or land being sold back at cost to the community, as recently happened with an area in Tayvallich, there’s much that can be done to manage land in ways that chime with community interests.
Third, and arguably most importantly, Highlands Rewilding wants to help develop a research framework, consulting with academic partners such as the University of Oxford. Alongside on-the-ground-initiatives, work has been underway to develop community baselines and map the stakeholders in the communities. Indices such as housing and prosperity are part of this, but we also want to capture those more intangible things that need to be taken into account as land management plans develop, such as a connection to place, wellbeing, heritage, culture, and belonging.
Through practical projects, such as deer larders and sawmills, through to session in schools or heritage mapping, we hope that the work we are doing can bring real benefits to the communities, underpinned by research that will help others to do the same.
For more information see:
Highlands Rewilding - Rewilding Scotland
Community engagement in rewilding - a roadmap — Highlands Rewilding
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