Loch Ness-side's new green team as Bunloit Estate starts walk on the wild side
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
SEVERAL new employees have been welcomed to a Loch Ness-side estate as the Bunloit Rewilding Project begins.
Senior ranger Scott Hendry, from Drumnadrochit, and rangers David Tulloch (Whitebridge), Nicola Williamson (Kirkhill) and Daniel Holm (Ardross), have joined the project which hopes to demonstrate a new way of land management, better for people and the planet.
The Bunloit Rewilding Project – high above Drumnadrochit – aims to boost nature recovery and community prosperity through rewilding. To tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, the project will undertake ecosystem restoration while creating green employment opportunities.
Bunloit’s plan will develop an ethically profitable land management model that can be replicated worldwide. Profits will be reinvested back into the nature recovery work and 10 per cent of annual net profits donated to local communities, to address the inequalities of land ownership in Scotland.
They will work on deer management, tree planting, forestry, biodiversity and carbon surveys, and general estate maintenance.
The Bunloit project conferred for over a year with a wide range of people and organisations, including the Scottish Government, ecology and rewilding experts, and the local community. The project’s goals are measurable increases in carbon sequestration and biodiversity, sustainable and green employment, and achieving ethical profits to reinvest into nature recovery work and the local community.
Mr Hendry was a countryside ranger in the Great Glen, while studying part-time for a BSc in environmental science. He is also involved with the Scottish Badgers charity and the Highland Raptor Study Group.
Mr Tulloch, who previously managed deer over 200,000 acres, said: “Rewilding for me brings a challenge that is not for the faint-hearted.”
Mr Holm, who has an MSc in conservation biology, has planted nearly one million native trees and worked on invasive species removal.
Ms Williamson, with an MSc in ecology and conservation, said: “Bunloit will not change the world, but the ethos of the project hopes to show how economically we can do things differently.”
Maggie English, a geography and politics student, is working on the project part-time as a research assistant.
