Rewilding Scotland and return of lynx in spotlight in Edinburgh

Alan Watson Featherstone

Rewilding Scotland – from restored forests to the return of predators such as the lynx – was in the spotlight at a topical lecture by leading conservationist Alan Watson Featherstone, founder and Executive Director of award-winning charity Trees for Life, at Edinburgh Zoo today (24 March).

The event highlighted the benefits of rewilding – the restoration of damaged natural ecosystems – for Scotland. This includes putting Scotland on the map as a wildlife tourism global hotspot and as a world leader in the international drive to tackle global forest loss.

The lecture was the final one in a special eight-week series that has been running at Edinburgh Zoo this year, focussing on Scottish species diversity and conservation.

Mr. Watson Featherstone said: “In the Highlands we have an opportunity to reverse environmental degradation and create a world-class wilderness region – offering a lifeline to wildlife including beavers, capercaillie, wood ants and pine martens, and restoring natural forests and wild spaces for our

Rewilding creates jobs and training at Loch Ness conservation estate

Pictured left-right: Alan Watson Featherstone,
Emma Beckinsale and Doug Gilbert from Trees for Life
at the charity’s Native Tree Nursery, Dundreggan

An acclaimed forest restoration project near Loch Ness is demonstrating how conservation can create employment opportunities in the Highlands, says award-winning charity Trees for Life.

 

This week Trees for Life introduced two new seasonal staff roles at its Dundreggan Conservation Estate in Glenmoriston, bringing the number of employees at the biodiversity hotspot to six – a substantial increase on the single employee under the site’s previous ownership, when it was managed as a traditional sporting estate.

 

With concerns about employment in much of the country, and across the Highlands in particular, Trees for Life says that the steady growth in