JOHN MUIR TRUST 16 Working with local communities through the John Muir Award 20 Nature writer Jim Crumley reflects JOURNAL on the glory of autumn 26 How people with dementia are 61 AUTUMN 2016 finding solace in our forests Change in the air What future for wild places in a time of political upheaval? CONTENTS 033 REGULARS 05 Chief executive’s welcome 06 News round-up 14 Wild moments Alistair Young, a Skye-based photographer and Gaelic speaker finds poetry in the hills 20 32 Books Liz Auty reviews Foxes Unearthed by Lucy Jones 34 Interview 34 Kevin Lelland finds out more about adventurer Alastair Humphreys, who will deliver this year’s Spirit of John Muir address FEATURES 10 A new vision for volatile times As storm clouds of political uncertainty gather over rural communities, Stuart Brooks puts the case for a fundamental shift in our approach to upland land management 16 Connecting with communities through the John Muir Award Toby Clark shows how the John Muir Award is forging strong links with communities, from the hills above Loch Ness to the bustling heart of London 20 Season of mists Described by the Los Angeles Times as “the best nature writer working in Britain today”, Jim Crumley talks to Susan Wright about his new book, The Nature of Autumn 23 Stronelairg and environmental justice Helen McDade argues that the Stronelairg legal case exposes wider injustices within the planning system in Scotland and across the UK 10 28 26 How woodland therapy can help dementia PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN MUIR TRUST AND ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS Emma Cessford finds out more about groundbreaking research into how trees can COVER: DETAIL OF GOLDEN FRINGE (STANDING BY LOCH CUL DROMMANA LOOKING TOWARDS STAC POLLAIDH) benefit people with dementia BY IAN CAMERON 28 A sense of space JOURNAL 61, AUTUMN 2016 Exclusive extracts from a new book by Chris Townsend recalling 40 years of experience in Editor: the wilds of Scotland and the wildernesses of Alan McCombes [email protected] North America Design and production: 31 Remembering an inspirational talent Neil Braidwood Adam Pinder reveals how relatives of artist Connect Communications connectcommunications.co.uk Emma Herman-Smith honoured her memory by supporting the Trust This journal is printed on Cocoon 100 uncoated If you would rather receive publications from stock, a recycled grade paper containing 100% the John Muir Trust electronically, please post-consumer waste and manufactured at a email [email protected] mill accredited with ISO 14001 environmental management standard. The pulp used in this The John Muir Trust is a Scottish charitable product is bleached using an Elemental company limited by guarantee. Registered Chlorine Free (ECF) process. We use a Scottish office: Tower House, Station Road, Pitlochry printer, J Thomson Colour, which has excellent PH16 5AN environmental credentials, achieving environmental standard ISO4001 plus FSC and Charity No. SC002061 PEFC standards all in 2006. Company No. SCO81620 HEAD OFFICE John Muir Trust t. 01796 470 080 Sign up for our monthly enewsletter at johnmuirtrust.org/newsletter Tower House w. johnmuirtrust.org Station Road Pitlochry Follow us on: Keep up-to-date with events and local activities at Perthshire PH16 5AN @JohnMuirTrust johnmuirtrust.org DIG DEEP FOR WILD PLACES Help repair the remote paths and fragile habitats you love Donate today johnmuirtrust.org/wildways Supported by Photography: Katrina Martin The John Muir Trust is a Scottish charitable company limited by guarantee (Charity No SC002061, Company No SC081620). Registered offi ce: Tower House, Station Road, Pitlochry, PH16 5AN WELCOME 05 From the chief executive IT IS MY pleasure to welcome all readers to this We are among the most nature-depleted countries in autumn edition of our Journal. the world. I write this having just returned from the IUCN On a more positive and optimistic note, I was (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) really struck by the emphasis at the IUCN Congress World Congress in Hawaii. Although I attended the on the value of connecting people to nature. The congress in my capacity as the Chair of the IUCN UK Trust is a signatory, alongside 195 partners National Committee, the Trust is an IUCN member worldwide, to the new #NatureForAll initiative. This – which meant I was able to wear that hat proudly too, is a global movement “to inspire a new generation of and make lots of useful connections that will thinkers and doers across all sectors of society to help us promote our work to protect connect with nature and take action to support its wildness in the UK. conservation”. At its core is a very simple idea: the The IUCN is the leading global nature more people experience, connect with, and share conservation organisation, with its their love of nature, the more support there will be membership uniquely derived from national for its conservation. states, NGOs and the scientific community. Our own John Muir Award is a shining example of Titled ‘Planet at the Crossroads’ – in how this can work in practice – and I think we can recognition of the urgent need to take action offer a lot to this new global initiative. It comes at an to alter the course of the survival of species excellent time when the UK Government has made a and ecosystems which we are ultimately commitment, through its 8-Point Plan for National dependent on for our own survival – the Parks in England, to get 60,000 school visits a year. event was welcomed by President Obama to mark the Providing a new generation with opportunities to first ever IUCN Congress held in the USA. experience wild places will, I believe, ultimately lead Over 8,500 delegates agreed the Hawaii to society valuing and protecting them – and I hope Commitments, which highlight nature-based begin to reverse the decline in the state of our solutions to climate change, such as the restoration of landscapes and nature. forests and peatlands. I was pleased to lead on a In this issue, we’ve tried to strike a balance motion calling for higher level global action to between celebrating the wonders of the natural conserve peatlands (a project championed by the world and analysing the challenges we face in these IUCN UK Committee) and also lend our voice, turbulent political times. I’ve offered my views on alongside many others including the Wild Foundation how the threats to the natural world posed by Brexit and Sierra Club, in calling for a ban on industrial can be avoided and turned into an opportunity to developments in protected areas. We can now use this reverse the decline set out in the State of Nature agreement in our UK-based campaigning to protect reports. Others have written beautifully about the wild land from industrial development. transformative power of forests, mountains and wide Closer to home, the second State of Nature report open spaces. I’m sure John Muir would have has just been published. While it acknowledges some approved of that balance. positive landscape-scale conservation in the last Enjoy this copy of the Journal… three years, it also paints a sorry tale of the demise of our wildlife. The UK has lost significantly more Stuart Brooks species over the long term than the global average. Chief executive, John Muir Trust In the shade of a Hawaiian monkeypod tree PHOTOGRAPH: STUART BROOKS BROOKS STUART PHOTOGRAPH: 06 NEWS JOHN MUIR TRUST JOURNAL AUTUMN 2016 Policy round-up • Scottish Natural Heritage has come out strongly against a resubmitted application for a 24-turbine wind farm which was last year thrown out by the Scottish Government. Among the reasons for its opposition to the proposed North Face Survey Limekiln development in Caithness, breaks new ground SNH cites “significant adverse effects on a nationally important Driving rain and swirling mist failed to deter area of wild land, Wild Land Area scientists and climbers from carrying out the 39, East Halladale Flows”. third annual geological and botanical survey of the North Face of Ben Nevis. • With a Public Local Inquiry (PLI) Among the participants was Alison Austin, about to begin into the proposed the Trust’s land manager on Nevis. The team Crossburns wind farm on the route discovered a new area of rare Wavy Meadow of the Rob Roy Way in Highland Grass clumps and discovered a new location Perthshire, the Trust held two for Tufted Saxifrage. local public exhibitions to draw They were also able to update the existing attention to the cumulative impact geological model of Ben Nevis, making it more of a series of industrial-scale comprehensive than ever before. The main developments in a major tourist areas surveyed so far include Little Brenva area within sight of Schiehallion. Face, Orion Face and Observatory Gully. The main aims of the study, led by the Nevis • Two political parties, individual Landscape Partnership, are to create a 3D MSPs and members of the public map of the mountain, raise its public profile have called on the Scottish and examine the impact of climate change. Government and SSE to waive their FYFFE BLAIR PHOTOGRAPH: right to seek legal costs from the Trust for the Stronelairg legal Scottish Government to assess deer numbers challenge. The Scottish Green Party and the Scottish Conservative Party The Trust’s call for better regulation for other major environmental NGOs in separately wrote to Scotland’s deer management remains high on Scotland, we believe the voluntary Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse, Scotland’s political agenda. approach has so far failed to deliver the as did some SNP and Labour MSPs. The Scottish Government’s recently public interest in deer management. Meanwhile the Trust continues its published programme for the new Ongoing damage to woodlands and work with MSPs across the political parliament contains a commitment to peatlands, caused by land management spectrum, welcoming some to our consider “whether any changes are that maintains high deer populations Glenlude and Schiehallion needed” in deer management regulation, primarily for stag shooting, remains a properties, and attending the following a report by SNH due in October.