The decision to turn down plans for a wind farm on the edge of the world-renowned Glen Affric area, west of the Great Glen, has been welcomed as “positive news” by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and the John Muir Trust. The proposal, by German developers, wpd, would have led to the construction of six turbines, each 400 foot high, on the edge of one of Scotland’s most famous landscapes. The project was opposed by wild land charity the John Muir Trust, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland which represents Scotland’s hillwalkers and mountaineers, two local community councils and over 1,000…

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) has expressed its disappointment and concern at the negligible response it received to a request for political party leaders to set out their positions on protecting Scotland’s wild land in advance of the general election. This contrasts strikingly with the enthusiastic response to its public petition on the same subject which has already exceeded 10,000 signatures. Campaigning to highlight the importance of Scotland’s mountains and remaining wild land for tourism, recreation and economic sustainability, the MCofS wrote to the leaders of all political parties at Holyrood and Westminster on 20 March 2015. The organisation…

A graphic novel based upon the life of pioneering conservationist John Muir, free copies of which were sent to every secondary school in Scotland last year, has created a statistically significant shift in pupil’s attitudes towards and connection to the natural world, according to a recent study. Muir, a Scottish born inventor, naturalist and writer, spent his life exploring wild places and was the founding father of national parks in America. The novel, entitled John Muir, Earth – Planet, Universe, combined environmental studies with literacy in an innovative way that hasn’t previously been implemented in Scotland, and was intended to…

As the General Election draws closer, party leaders at Westminster and Holyrood have been challenged to say where they stand on the protection of Scotland’s mountains and wild land. Thousands of people have already signed a petition calling for protection for these nationally important assets to be strengthened. Now the Mountaineering Council of Scotland is asking party leaders to state their position and help people to decide which way to vote. A month ago the MCofS, which represents mountaineers, climbers and hill walkers, published and sent to MPs for Scottish seats and MSPs its vision for the future of mountains…