Findhorn, Nairn and Lossie Rivers Trust
The Findhorn Watershed Initiative was launched in 2022 as a direct response to the Trust’s 2021-2026 Management Plan and the Board’s commitment build on our experience and expertise to make a greater impact in its charitable aims of conservation and restoration of the catchments.
Although much of the length of the rivers is classified as good to very good quality, it is clear that during the last two centuries the removal of natural forests, overgrazing and changing land use have significantly degraded the ecosystems of the rivers. Moreover, we now face a climate crisis which is causing increasing global temperatures and dramatically changing weather patterns. These factors combine to present a very serious threat to life in the catchment, particularly to salmon who cannot survive the rising temperatures of our rivers. This demands our urgent attention.
Confronting these issues require large scale programs and significant funding to begin to reverse the trends. For these to be effective, the Trust believes that they will need to be coordinated at a scale beyond that of individual land holdings – a natural unit for this coordination is that of the river catchment, and as such, organisations like the FNLRT have a vital role to play.
The Findhorn Watershed Initiative has been created as a catchment-scale vision to restore a mosaic of nature rich habitats, inspire a local culture of nature connection, and enable a thriving nature-based rural economy from the source to the sea of the beautiful River Findhorn.
FNLRT has secured significant funding from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund, NatureScot’s Nature Restoration Fund, and LNER’s Customer and Community Investment Fund to support the development the first phase of the Initiative.
We look forward to bringing together the River Findhorn Watershed’s communities, landowners, businesses, farmers, land managers, local authorities, and educational institutions to work in coalition at nature’s scale to sequester carbon, restore habitat, and mitigate the impacts of the twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse for future generations.
Visit the Findhorn Watershed Initiative website and find out more about our work to date and how you can get involved, and follow us on social media:
Instagram @FindhornWatershed
Twitter @FindhornWater
Facebook – Findhorn Watershed Initiative
LinkedIn – Findhorn Watershed Initiative
