£2.9m for Galloway Glens

The Heritage Lottery Fund has given £2,915,700 to the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership.
The partnership will work with communities in conserving and restoring this fragile landscape, which measures 590 km2 and includes the Dark Sky Park, Scotland’s first Biosphere, the country’s only bat reserve and the catchment area of the rivers Dee and Ken.
Practical works will allow fish to negotiate the power station, peatland will be restored and forestry restructured. There will be training for 16-24 year olds in heritage and business skills, while local firms will be trained in promoting nature-based tourism.
Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “The wellbeing and prosperity of Scotland depends on the health of our environment. As set out in the Scotland’s Biodiversity Route Map to 2020, it is vital that action is taken now to care for, protect and restore fragile habitats and species. This investment will allow substantial work to be carried out which will support the aims of the 2020 Challenge for Biodiversity.”
And HLF head in Scotland Lucy Casot added: “Our species and habitats are under constant threat yet they make a massive contribution to our economy. The enormous pressures upon them mean that we have to approach landscape restoration and conservation on a bigger scale than ever before. For the last 11 years our Landscape Partnership* programme has been doing just that.”
Two other Scottish landscapes have also benefited from a share of the overall £7.5m HLF package. They are The North Isles in Orkney and Callander’s Pass on the edge of the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park.