Findhorn Watershed Initiative (FWI): Human Ecology Researcher-in-Residence

 
 

The Findhorn Watershed Initiative (FWI) is a multi-generational vision to restore a mosaic of nature rich habitats, inspire a local culture of nature connection, and enable a thriving rural nature-based economy. Catalysed by the urgent need to mitigate the impacts of climate breakdown on our river ecosystems and the wildlife that inhabits them, the Findhorn Watershed Initiative seeks to facilitate and accelerate a coordinated approach nature recovery, based in the understanding that nature recovery is as much about human relationships with nature, as it is about the hands-on restoration work itself. Project aims include:

Nature recovery

  • Healthy, connected river woodlands, from the Monadhliath to the Moray Firth

  • A landscape supporting an abundance and diversity of life

  • Wild rivers shaped by natural processes increasing resilience to climate risks

  • A watershed fulfilling its carbon-storing potential, from peatlands to saltmarshes

Connected communities

  • Fostering a local culture of nature connection

  • Deepening a sense of pride and belonging within the watershed

  • Nurturing a spirit of stewardship and hope through caring for and protecting the places we love

A regenerative rural economy 

  • More opportunities for high quality training, green jobs and nature-based enterprise 

  • Income from natural capital investment benefiting all the watershed’s communities 

  • A river catchment accelerating Scotland’s just transition towards a wellbeing economy 

Human Ecology Research and Community Engagement:

The FWI has commissioned Raghnaid Sandilands and Mairi McFadyen to conduct a pilot programme of human ecology research and engagement in the Upper Catchment area between July 2023 and March 2024, forming one part of a wider programme of community engagement for the first phase of FWI. This research will involve cultural research and fieldwork, including audio fieldwork recording in the watershed communities. The wider project will seek to bring together all of the insights, stories, reflections, and voices engaged to date across the programme to begin to form the first iteration of a ‘River Findhorn Charter’.

The intention of commissioning this research is to help animate the first phase of unfolding river and ecological restoration activities currently underway for local residents, and nurture watershed residents' senses of connection with, belonging to, and care for the river, its inhabitants, and the wider watershed.

The Findhorn Watershed Initiative has been instigated and is currently being led by trusted place-based conservation intermediary the Findhorn, Nairn, and Lossie Rivers Trust. Between 2022-24 the pilot phase of the project is funded by the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund, NatureScot’s Nature Restoration Fund, and LNER’s Customer & Community Investment Fund.

Mairi McFadyenComment