With Holyrood due to debate the new National Planning Framework this week, the John Muir Trust has urged MSPs to resist lobbying pressure from those with a major financial interest in sabotaging the wild land map that has been developed by Scottish Natural Heritage over more than a decade. On Tuesday, parliament will debate the latest draft of the Scottish Government’s new draft National Planning Framework 3. A commitment to ‘strong protection for our wildest landscapes’ in the original draft has been removed from the latest version. But since that new version was published, independent experts have analysed the results…

As Scottish Natural Heritage publishes the independent analysis of the public consultation on its wild land map, the John Muir Trust hailed the findings as further evidence of strong public support for the protection of Scotland’s wild land. A total of 410 submissions were received, with 300 supporting the wild land map, including Walkhighlands. As a comparison, there were 472 responses in total on alcohol minimum pricing; 139 responses on reducing the drink driving limit; and 56 responses on the abolition of corroboration. An analysis of the responses carried out by two independent organisations, Craigforth Consultants and Planning Aid Scotland,…

The head of the United States National Parks, Jonathan B. Jarvis, and author and champion of the rewilding movement, George Monbiot, are among a range of international experts on landscape and nature who will address the John Muir Conference 2014 in Perth this spring. The event, in Perth Concert Hall on 12-13 May, will explore innovative solutions for the protection and enhancement of the UK’s most important landscapes, and examine the relevance of Muir’s visionary principles in the 21st century. The conference, hosted by a group of six landscape, nature and heritage organisations, with the support of the Scottish Government…

Public backing is needed to secure funding for an ambitious native woodland conservation project in the heart of the Trossachs. The Great Trossachs Forest is one of six conservation projects from around Europe competing in a poll organised by the European Outdoor Conservation Association. The initiative that receives the most votes by 31 March will receive funding worth £25,000. If the bid is successful the funding will help to expand native woodland in the Trossachs through the planting of thousands of trees, encourage the natural regeneration of existing woods, and allow other habitats including wetlands to recover. Funding will also…