Project to create volunteering opportunities

A new project from Trees for Life will provide dozens of young people with high-quality conservation volunteering opportunities.

The charity has received a grant of £20,000 from the ScottishPower Foundation for the project which will benefit 70 young people aged 18-25 years old during 2015. Through both week-long courses and long-term volunteering placements, the young people will be able to develop new skills and strengthen their employability.

Alan Watson Featherstone, Trees for Life's Executive Director said:

"This generous grant from ScottishPower Foundation is excellent news for the Caledonian Forest and its rare species, and for dozens of young people who will be able to study and carry out practical hands-on conservation work – including the establishment of native woodlands and managing land for wildlife.

"The funding will enable us to make our project accessible to the widest range of young people – particularly those facing disadvantages and financial barriers to participation."

Activities will include the planting of native trees and plants to expand woodland habitat, collecting and propagating seeds in a specialised tree nursery at Trees for Life’s acclaimed Dundreggan Conservation Estate near Loch Ness, and carrying out biodiversity surveys.

Although only a fraction of the former Caledonian Forest now survives, Trees for Life volunteers have helped to plant more than one million trees at dozens of locations across the Highlands, and to create 10,000 acres of new forest. The charity has pledged to establish one million more trees by planting and natural regeneration by 2018.

For more information about Trees for Life, see http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/ or call 01309 691292.