The concept of rewilding seems to be everywhere. With its potential to address the twin crises of global heating and biodiversity loss, that’s understandable.

There is more development proposed in the Upper Urr catchment in the next ten years than was undertaken in the last 50.

When I came to live in the beautiful Glenkens, six years ago, I was quite unprepared for the speed and scale of local land use change, and the affect this would have on my ability to set up in business.

For some, peatlands may not seem the most attractive of places. However, at the Crichton Carbon Centre we’re passionate about these 'squadgy' landscapes, the life they support, and the climate benefits they provide.

We asked Tom Clark, Forest Manager for Czernin-Kinsky, a Dalry-based commercial forestry company, to give us an insight into how current changes to the forest sector.

An Australian mining company's prospecting for metal minerals across Galloway has raised serious concerns of toxic pollution, radioactive release, ecological damage and the destruction of historically and culturally important sites and protected habitats in the Glenkens.

The land use of the Glenkens and wider Galloway is undergoing change at a pace and scale that has not been seen since the creation of the Forest Park.

Are you aware of what is happening in the Glenkens? Before long, every hilltop between Dalmellington in the northwest, Sanquhar in the northeast and Parton in the south will be covered with giant wind turbines.

The current approach to land use in rural Scotland is unbelievably outdated. It is centralised in government departments and agencies.

Some years ago, I attended an interesting forestry workshop at which a local forester outlined the history of a particular woodland. However, he then went on to confess - if that is the right word - that he had only managed to visit the wood once in the previous 18 months.

It would seem whether fighting in the name of the fatherland, the motherland or the homeland, that one word - land - has probably been at the back of every conflict since mankind could wield a club.

The underlying ethos of the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere is sustainability. For the Biosphere sustainability is about “Thinking Global, Acting Local” - it’s about dealing with the needs of the local environment, the local economy and our local society in a balanced and even-handed way.

The speed of land use change in Galloway is extraordinary.
In what seems like no time at all, extensive areas of traditional hill farming country have gone to commercial forestry, and given the time delay between approval and delivery of new forest projects, it’s hard to grasp the enormity of what’s coming next.

The Glenkens has a rich and diverse farming heritage. A patchwork of small family owned or long term tenanted farms sits alongside larger estates and holdings. Our mix of uplands and lower lying land create opportunities for different soil distribution and habitat types.

With land sales accelerating by the day and new commercial forestry schemes expanding rapidly across the Glenkens, we wanted to give you an update on what Communities for Diverse Forestry (CDF) have been doing.