Phil Duffield from Scottish Power Foundation (centre) meets Trees for Life volunteers (left-right) Sam Manning, Grace Burger, Emily Warner and Rebecca Schmidt at Dundreggan Conservation Estate
A conservation charity has received a £20,000 funding boost for a new youth project in the Highlands.
Trees for Life will run the initiative this year to allow 70 students aged 18-25 to study and carry out Caledonian Forest restoration work at the Dundreggan Conservation Estate near Loch Ness.
The project, involving week-long courses and long-term volunteering placements, has been made possible by a grant provided by ScottishPower Foundation.
Students from Aberdeen University, Glasgow University, Peterborough Open Awards Centre and Leicestershire’s Brooksby Melton College will benefit from the work.
Activities will include planting native trees and plants to expand woodland habitat, collecting and propagating seeds in a specialised tree nursery at the charity’s tree nursery at Dundreggan and carrying out biodiversity surveys.
A fraction of the former Caledonian Forest now survives, but Trees for Life volunteers have helped to plant more than a million trees at dozens of locations across the Highlands, and create 10,000 acres of new forest.
The charity has pledged to establish one million more trees by planting and natural regeneration by 2018.
Conservation charity gets £20,000 funding boost to create Highland opportunities for youngsters
