Funding boost of £125,000 for river scheme
Focus on headwaters of River Almond
A Perthshire river will become the focus of a restoration initiative after securing £125,000 in development funding.
The River Almond Headwaters nature-restoration proposal will see a project team work with landowners, communities and other stakeholders in the upper reaches of Glen Almond.
They will help develop a ‘landscape finance innovation hub’ with opportunities for “new funding mechanisms” beyond traditional grants.
The proposal was forwarded by the Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust (PKCT) with the funding awarded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (EFF).
Building on pilot projects elsewhere in the UK, the award aims to help to create an “investable nature recovery project” in Highland Perthshire and drive “community-focused ecological restoration” in the region.
The project is part of the Perthshire Nature Connections Partnership (PNCP), a long-term, nature-based vision to support landscape restoration connections between the Cairngorms
and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Parks across Perthshire.
PNCP’S connections to landowner and farmer organisations, environmental NGOS and agencies, Perth and Kinross Council and community actors were critical to achieving the Riverwoods award.
Riverwoods aims to ensure that a focus on ecological priorities like natural flood management, water quality, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and countryside access will result in valuable natural capital that provides socio-economic benefits
to local communities, landowners and land managers.
David Tollick, conservation officer at PKCT and PNCP lead, said: “We are very much looking forward to working with the partners, including the estates, the potential funders and the communities.
“Our own proposal will focus on the headwaters catchment of the River Almond.
“Our success will be shown in new ways that corporate and private funds can lead to nature recovery actions. Lessons learned could be used across similar areas.”