John Muir Trust

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John Muir Trust
Formation 1983
Type charitable NGO
Headquarters Pitlochry
Website John Muir Trust website

The John Muir Trust is a Scottish charity[1] established as a membership organisation in 1983 to conserve wild land and wild places for the benefit of all. The Trust has over 10,000 members internationally.

The organisation was inspired by the work, spirit and legacy of Scots-born conservationist John Muir - a key figure in the modern conservation movement, particularly in the USA where he worked to save Yosemite National Park and other areas of wilderness. Building on Muir's reputation there, the Trust has links with the Sierra Club, which John Muir founded in California in 1892. It was founded by Denis Mollison, Nicholas Luard, Nigel Hawkins and Chris Brasher.[2]

The John Muir Trust owns some of the finest wild land in the highlands and islands of Scotland: land on Skye, the Knoydart peninsula and Sandwood, as well as Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles, and part of Schiehallion. As well as protecting stunning landscapes, the Trust works to restore natural habitats and encourage native species. It works with local people and communities who live on and around wild land, and who contribute to the landscape in a variety of ways. The Trust seeks to increase awareness and understanding of the value of wild places and wild land through its educational initiative, the John Muir Award.

John Muir Trust properties

A rest by the Allt an Eas Mhòir on Ben Avon taken on the John Muir Trust Journey for the Wild

The Trust looks after Ben Nevis. As owner of the Ben Nevis Estate, it plays a key role in the Nevis Partnership, which covers care of the Ben and the wider Nevis area including Glen Nevis and the Allt a' Mhuilinn leading to the North Face. In Perthshire, the Trust is restoring Schiehallion by re-aligning the footpath and removing the ugly erosion scar of the old path. The vision of the Trust is to bring back beautiful ancient woodland and native woodlands - with all their birds, animals, flowers and other vegetation, insects, mosses and fungi.

The Trust helped establish the Knoydart Foundation, which purchased the 17,000-acre (69 km2) Knoydart Estate in 1999. This was an historic moment for Knoydart and one that the Trust had spent 16 years trying to bring about. The purchase brought the "rough bounds" into community and conservation ownership. The Trust is the only external representative on the North Harris Trust, which aims to manage, develop and conserve the North Harris Estate (Outer Hebrides) in a sustainable manner for the benefit of the community and the enjoyment of the wider public. In 2005, the Trust purchased the Quinag Estate in Sutherland and joined the Assynt Foundation (Lochinver) to assist them in purchasing and managing the neighbouring Glencanisp and Drumrunie Estates.

The John Muir Trust has given support to the Carrifran Wildwood project, initiated by the Borders Forest Trust.[3] The Wildwood group purchased land in the Carrifran valley in the Moffat hills of Southern Scotland in 1999 and has started to recreate a large tract of woodland wilderness that will be used as an inspiration and an educational resource. The Trust is working with the owner of two hill farms in the Cambrian Mountains of mid-Wales to maximise environmental benefit. The owner is responsible for the management and financing of the project, while the Trust will carry out surveys, develop detailed land management plans and offer advice and support as necessary.

John Muir's birthplace

In 1998, together with East Lothian Council, Dunbar's John Muir Association and Dunbar Community Council, the John Muir Trust formed a new organisation called the John Muir Birthplace Trust. The following year JMBT purchased John Muir's Birthplace at 126 High Street, Dunbar. They have turned it into an interpretative centre, which tells the story of John Muir's early years in Dunbar where he established his lifelong passion for wild places and creatures.

John Muir Award

The John Muir Award is part of the Trust's education programme. The John Muir Award is an environmental award scheme that encourages people to connect with, enjoy, and care for wild places. It offers a progressive structure for learning outdoors.

The Trust occasionally bestows a John Muir Lifetime Achievement Award to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding work relating to the protection and enjoyment of wild land:

2000 Tom Weir, mountaineer and broadcaster[4]
2004 Adam Watson, ecologist, mountaineer, and author[5]
2006 Doug Scott, mountaineer[6]
2008 Irvine Butterfield, writer, photographer and mountain enthusiast[7]

List of John Muir Trust properties

See also

Blà Bheinn

References

  1. ↑ John Muir Trust, Registered Charity no. SC002061 at the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
  2. ↑ "John Muir Trust Annual Report 2004". John Muir Trust. Retrieved 15 October 2011. 
  3. ↑ "Carrifran Wildwood Project". Retrieved 4 July 2011. 
  4. ↑ "Top Award for Scotland's Best-Loved "Mountain Man"". 24 November 2000. Retrieved 2007-06-06. 
  5. ↑ "Lifetime Achievement Award for Dr Adam Watson". 2 November 2004. Retrieved 2007-06-06. 
  6. ↑ "The path over the mountains - Doug Scott". 24 March 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-06. 
  7. ↑ "Irvine Butterfield Receives Lifetime Achievement Award at Dundee Mountain Festival". 28 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 

External links

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