Thinking back over our first operational year at the community woodland, it has certainly been action packed! A little over a year ago we commenced work, firstly felling the diseased larch and created a site for the yard and shed. Stone was then laid and the shed went up in March thanks to funding from South of Scotland Enterprise. We took on staff, Andy and Phoenix, who have proved to be a great asset, running the woodfuel enterprise, alongside the many tasks they undertake in the woodland.

What a year it has been for the Loch Ken Trust!
Our Annual General Meeting was held in November, and it was great to reflect on all our achievements throughout 2022.

In a world of consultations, feedback deadlines and community engagement, trees can sometimes be seen as a bewildering topic. The Fantastic Forest Festival is a chance to approach the question of tree cover from new perspectives.

The Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere’s plans for a sustainable office space at St John’s Town of Dalry are gaining momentum.

If so, could 2023 be the year to make it happen?

There is currently an exciting opportunity for residents of the Glenkens looking to set up as childminders.

Following the recent consultation for closure of Carsphairn Primary, Dumfries & Galloway Council's Learning and Education Directorate is recommending that the Education Committee vote on 28 March to continue the current mothballed status for up to two years.

Community Push to Revive Glenkens Sports MUGA community bid is being made to bring a sports pitch back to life.

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.

A woodlot allows local people to rent and manage an area of woodland from a landowner on a long-term basis. The Scottish Woodlot Association encourages woodlots in Scotland on a model inspired by how woodlots are run in Canada, where this has been common practice for decades.

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.