Findhorn Hinterland Trust starts building an environmental hub in Wilkies Wood, Findhorn Ecovillage
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AN ENVIRONMENTAL charity has laid the foundations of a physical base on the land that it it is dedicated to.
After 15 years as a community group, and since 2015 as The Findhorn Hinterland Trust (FHT), the organisation has started building a hub on the south side of Wilkies Wood next to the Findhorn Ecovillage, using funding from local charities, the Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation, the Southall Trust, The Hugh Fraser Foundation, Volunteering Matters and the Corra Foundation, as well as local community members and organisations such as the New Findhorn Association.
FHT chairman, Jonathan Caddy, confirmed the building will help the group continue with its conservation and education efforts, as well as providing recreational activities and building community.
He said: “We have finally begun to build a physical base for the good work we do looking after the land.
“This conservation hub will enable us to better help conserve the biodiversity, educate others as to the special environment we have here at Findhorn, provide appropriate recreational resources for all to enjoy and build a greater sense of local community in the process.”
FHT does not own land but works with landowners and other stakeholders to integrate land management, involving the local community through offering activities related to the land and by promoting cooperation and collaboration.
Management is carried out via long-term agreements with the landowners and an agreed five-year management plan. The Findhorn Hinterland Trust Management Plan 2019-23 was produced after a public consultation in 2016 featuring a drop-in-day, woodland festival and surveys.
Woodland, gorse and heath, and grassland is managed on the site.
Wilkies Wood is being transformed from a pine plantation into a naturalised woodland environment that can support typical Scots Pine forest flora and fauna. This is being achieved by thinning trees and planting others.
The monoculture of gorse on the dunes is the result of fire damage over many years. FHT is putting in fire breaks to limit future fire damage and re-introduce biodiversity such as wild rose, honeysuckle, elder bushes and young rowan trees.
The heath is part of a site of national importance for lichens, with up to 150 species.
The grassland is rough grazing for ponies and the site for four wind turbines.
The new 100m2 hub building will house FHT’s equipment such as a tractor, hand tools and those used for their green burial site. It will also be a meeting place for volunteers with educational information on display. It is being constructed from trees from the forest and, with the guidance of master builder Sean Brechin, local people are learning post and beam construction. The cost of the basic build will be around £16,000, and the final build, £20,000.
FHT recently received news that the Heritage Lottery Community Fund is going to support the project with a grant of £5000, securing the funding to complete the basic build.
Jonathan said: “We are so grateful for such tangible support. The project is helping bring people back together after the challenges of covid and the devastation of having the local community centre and sanctuary razed to the ground by fire earlier in the year.”
