FUNDING of £5000 has been awarded to Dumfries and Galloway for research on a rare plant species.
It will allow a specialised study into rare species of plant life within the waters of the East Stewartry Coast National Scenic Area, near Colvend Village, which are regarded as a highly important ecological feature.
The research is set to centre around recording the range of plant types and looking for several species of which are in short supply that are listed in historical records in the area.
The funding will be used to contract an aquatic plant survey specialist and to train local botany volunteers.
The data acquired will be compared with older information to give a new starting point against which to measure future changes in the environment and surrounding areas.
Project manager Simon Pain said: “The grant of £5000 towards the Colvend Lochs Aquatic Plant Survey means that we now will be able to conduct the research later this year.
“This is a very exciting project, and the small-scale test case we carried out recently in one of the small lochs in our area resulted in some rare finds, so we have great expectations now that we will be able to do a much wider survey.”
The project is one of 16 innovative community-led research projects across Scotland to receive funding from the RSE and the Williamson Trust.
And the money given to Dumfries and Galloway is part of a larger scale creative project to build up communities through the Healthy Planet, Healthy People awards.
