This project aims to establish an outdoor ‘School of the Environment’ on 60acres of community owned land – The Plock – beside the village of Kyle of Lochalsh within the UNESCO-designated Wester Ross Biosphere.

The Trust will work with community members, schools, further education colleges & land managers (garden owners, crofters & estate owners), to raise awareness & teach skills in land management to support & improve habitats & biodiversity.  Knowledge of habitat & biodiversity measuring & mapping (which would also be transferable to other areas in Lochalsh) will be shared & used to create a comprehensive body of baseline data about what can be found on the Plock.  The baseline data will then be used to secure further, long-term funding (planned bid to NHLF for 3 year funding).

This grant is to run a pilot, six month project offering a mixture of self-led education (nature trails & interpretation) & directed learning (expert-led workshops, citizen science days, volunteering opportunities & schools programmes).