Beldorney Estate
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“It is really exciting to see Highlands Rewilding’s next step forward. There are lots of eyes on it. It is what we need.”
John Uttley, Outcome Manager, Green Economy, NatureScot.
Highlands Rewilding is a company with a mission to generate nature recovery and community prosperity through rewilding taken to scale. It aims to become a world leader in accelerating nature-based solutions that can help fight the existential and related crises of climate meltdown, biodiversity collapse, and social inequality, whilst helping to rebuild local economies.
The company will use its three estates as ‘Open air Natural Capital laboratories’. To ensure an evidence-based approach, the company makes extensive use of satellites, drone-based sensors, ground-based sensors, eDNA analysis, and observational work by ecologists to generate natural capital data. This data then informs the design of interventions on the land, for instance the felling of monoculture conifer plantations to be replaced with native woodland or restored peatland. It is hoped that these projects will act as an exemplar to encourage other landowners to pivot their land management to net-zero and nature positive practises.
Highlands Rewilding purchased the estate in 2021, hoping to implement lessons learned at the Bunloit Estate in a different location with somewhat different natural capital priorities. For much of its recent history, the estate has been dominated by grazing activity with more recent additions of non-native forest plantation. Priorities for the estate include:
- Restoration and rewilding of the River Deveron, including landscape scale collaborations with other landowners in the catchment area.
- Wetlands – expanding and improving wetland habitat, initially through creation of new ponds
- Grasslands – Experimental and small-scale cattle grazing in order to improve the biodiversity of this habitat.
- Tree planting – initially planting 15 hectares with native broadleaved woodlands. Existing plantation woodland will be gradually and sensitively thinned to be replaced with broadleaved woodland.
- Regenerative agriculture and agroforestry – wo grassland areas will be planted with fruit and nut trees, establishing multi-functioning landscapes.
- Peatland restoration through removal of sitka spruce and blocking drains.
- Continue to engage with the community and develop shared objectives. This emphasis on community is essential for both genuine social progress but also to provide a social ‘licence-to-operate’ with the local community.
Whilst the projects are engaging with carbon markets to ensure their effectiveness, they are not pre-selling carbon or any other credits (known as PIUs – Pending Issuance Units). Instead, they aim to sell any credits after measuring change over a number of years (referred to as ‘ex-post’). Biodiversity credits are expected to generate a greater return in the future assuming, as expected, that a strong biodiversity credits framework will emerge in Scotland.
Read more about the company here.
Revenue Model
Ecotourism – offering high end accommodation and retreats (for leisure or businesses).
Highlands Rewilding will sell high integrity Natural Capital credits, such as carbon and biodiversity credits (21% of expected revenue).
Consultancy offering data-driven land management advisory services to other neighbouring landowners with an offer to share in monetisation of natural capital (55% of expected revenue).
Public/Grant Funding
A £194,700 FIRNS (Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland) grant received to fund an `8 month ‘Joint Ventures for Scalable Community Benefits from Rewilding’ project across its three estates. The outcome of the project will be a series of investment-ready business plans for community joint ventures which capitalise on environmental improvements from rewilding, and the valuable ecosystem services they generate. They will be a mechanism for involving more people in nature restoration, boosting the economy, skills development, job creation and cohesion in local communities.
Legal Arrangements
Highlands Rewilding investors sign ‘Subscription Agreements’ which bind them to not selling their shares on to people who do not agree with their purpose and mission.
Parties Involved
To carry out research strategies, Highlands Rewilding has partnered up with a group of both local and UK-wide conservation organisations, ecologists and scientific specialists to develop surveying methods that will inform intervention plans and recommendations for rewilding.
These include the University of Oxford, the University of Edinburgh, SRUC, University of the Highlands and Islands, University of Aberdeen, Agricarbon, Nature Metrics, Peatland Action and Plantlife.
In particular, collaboration with the Cabrach Trust, a local rural regeneration charity, has allowed for the Forest of Hope, planted to mark COP 26, to be extended at Inverharroch, strengthening vital riparian habitats in the Upper Deveron Valley.
Environmental Impact
Creation and regeneration of native woodland, restoration of peatland and other habitats, including species rich grassland, will increase biodiversity as well as sequestering carbon.
Creation of wetland and riverine habitats, such as ponds and expanding riparian woodland, provide water quality improvements, improved water retention for natural flood management and reduction in wildfire risks. This is a large focus of the ‘Forest of Hope’, a COP 26 legacy project, in the estate.
Social Impact and Engagement
Central to Highlands Rewilding’s mission is community prosperity and tackling inequality. It will tackle this through:
- Partnership and co-operation with local community groups, such as the Calbrach Trust; offering new opportunities for local people to connect with and work on the land, including the creation of many new meaningful jobs, training opportunities and internships on the rewilded estates.
- Co-ownership of the company and land with local people through a community share offer (minimum investment of only £50)
- Creation of local microenterprises and opportunities to create truly affordable homes by offering self-build or collaborative JV (Joint Venture) opportunities to local people on sites within the estates. On the Beldorney estate, a farm which has fallen into disrepair is being investigated for suitability to convert into an eco-enterprise hub built around regenerative agriculture and micro-enterprises.
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