£186,000 worth of Nature Restoration Fund cash awarded to Highland community groups and causes
More than £186,000 has been awarded to community wildlife and habitat protection and restoration projects across the Highlands.
The figure for the most recent financial year was highlighted after Highland councillors agreed funding proposals for the Nature Restoration Fund this week.
The economy and infrastructure committee also agreed proposals for the fund in the year ahead at their latest meeting on Thursday.
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The Nature Restoration Fund sees Scottish Government cash allocated to local authority areas for use on projects that support nature restoration, safeguard wildlife, and tackle the causes of biodiversity loss.
Councils manage grant applications worth up to £25,000, with NatureScot awarding money for projects seeking funding larger than that.
And in 2023/24, Highland Council allocated more than £186,000 worth of grants to community projects ranging from Skye and Raasay to Nairn and from Newtonmore to Loch Ness to Wick.
Projects included £17,900 to Stratherrick and Foyers Community Trust for habitat support, and £16,115 to Nairn Butterfly Conservation for its works saving threatened sand dune butterflies and moths.
Elsewhere, awards included £9400 for the Boleskine House Foundation’s freshwater pond restoration work, and £6,700 to RSPB Scotland for its Black Throated Diver conservation work in the west Inverness glens.
Balvonie Park Association’s £11,796 for tree restoration and bat protection works, and Culbokie Community Trust’s £5453 for a pollinator bed project in Culbokie Green, were some of the other recipients.
Biggest grant awards made by the council were for £25,000 apiece for rhododendron removal on Raasay, and for Skye Connect's Meall na Suiramach habitat restoration project.
The fund also allowed Highland Council to employ a greenspace officer whose focus is on delivering nature restoration projects on council-owned land. This has included five tree planting projects which have seen the planting of more than 2700 native trees across the region.
In total the Highland Council secured £676,000 worth of Nature Restoration Fund cash in 2023.24,, an increase of £348,000 from the year before. And although no formal announcement has yet been made, it is anticipated that the funding will once again be made available to local authorities in 2024/25.
As well as agreeing funding proposals for the coming financial year, the council committee meeting this week further agreed that funding decisions in respect of that fund will be delegated to the executive chief officer for Infrastructure, Environment & Economy and the chairman of the committee.
Chairman of the committee, Cllr Ken Gowans, said: “It has been inspiring to see so many projects coming forward to apply for funding as it shows that people all over Highland are driving local action against climate change and threats to habitat.”
Dr Tom Prescott, Butterfly Conservation Scotland's head of conservation, was delighted with the various funding awards the group has secured under the fund. He said: "Highland Council’s NRF funding has been a game changer for our work to enhance habitat for rare and threatened butterflies and moths in the Highlands.
“This includes improving the fortunes of Small Blue and Dingy Skipper at Logie Quarry with Balnagown Estate, working with Novar estate to benefit Netted Mountain Moth and most recently restoring the dunes at Nairn for Small Blue and a suite of duneland moths, including Portland Moth.
“It has also allowed us to work more closely with these landowners and continue our work at these sites through other projects.”
