Foundation Management Agreement ready to be signed: There has been a verbal agreement ever since the Findhorn Foundation bought land from Duneland Ltd in 2014 that there would be a similar management agreement set up with the new Findhorn Hinterland Trust as there had been with the community group the Findhorn Hinterland Group and Duneland Ltd. It has taken over a year now to agree to wording but we are now ready to sign this important document. It sets out that the FHT has a mandate to manage the land for conservation through an agreed management plan over fifteen year time periods. There still needs a separate agreement to be drawn up to give even more security for the green burial land but this is a significant step forward.
Staffing Secured: Forester Kajedo Wanderer has been generously seconded by the Findhorn Foundation to work on Findhorn Hinterland land for the past year. This has allowed many of the on-going projects to be managed and helped along in so many ways such as planting and tending trees, using the brush-cutter and topper to clear paths and firebreaks, leading and organising tours of the land, carrying on the momentum of clearing valuable lichen beds of invasive plants, caring for the woodland shelter, edible woodland garden and ponds, organising the work of volunteers and a hundred other things that are reflected in the well-kept nature of the land at the present time.
It was clear that the Foundation was not able/willing to fund this secondment beyond this year and although the FHT would have very much liked to employ a land manager at this time, as a very young organisation it was seen as too risky to take on an employee at the moment by the trustees.
Over the last months however, an arrangement has been agreed by which the FHT pays a monthly amount to extend Kajedo’s involvement for another year and by the end of that time we should have secured grants so could have him working on the land for at least a third year. This is very good news as it means that the purposes of the trust to conserve, educate, build community and provide recreational facilities can go forward in a very positive way.
A big thank you to the Findhorn Foundation for being willing to enter into this agreement and it is great to have you on board Kajedo – your work and presence is very much noticed and appreciated by the many!
Happenings on the Land: This summer the land and Hinterland facilities have been well used. Activities have particularly centred around the woods and woodland shelter area and have ranged from night camps by a Nairn Duke of Edinburgh group, drumming and bread making sessions for adults with disability through the Foundation’s Building Bridges programme, nature activities for groups of 3 to 6 and 7 to 11 year olds as part of the Children and Youth in Community summer activities, a burial of a local gentleman in our green burial ground, a couple of informal birthday celebrations around a fire and even a small wedding reception for Sarah Alexander and Trevor Simpson who were married in the village and wanted a contained outdoor space for this special event.
To make sure that there is no conflict with bookings, activities are appropriate, the area is respected and cared for and that there is something positive put back into the land, we provide written guides for the use of the areas and a booking system. This material can be found under Hinterland Facilities on the website.
August 2016 – News
Foundation Management Agreement ready to be signed: There has been a verbal agreement ever since the Findhorn Foundation bought land from Duneland Ltd in 2014 that there would be a similar management agreement set up with the new Findhorn Hinterland Trust as there had been with the community group the Findhorn Hinterland Group and Duneland Ltd. It has taken over a year now to agree to wording but we are now ready to sign this important document. It sets out that the FHT has a mandate to manage the land for conservation through an agreed management plan over fifteen year time periods. There still needs a separate agreement to be drawn up to give even more security for the green burial land but this is a significant step forward.
Staffing Secured: Forester Kajedo Wanderer has been generously seconded by the Findhorn Foundation to work on Findhorn Hinterland land for the past year. This has allowed many of the on-going projects to be managed and helped along in so many ways such as planting and tending trees, using the brush-cutter and topper to clear paths and firebreaks, leading and organising tours of the land, carrying on the momentum of clearing valuable lichen beds of invasive plants, caring for the woodland shelter, edible woodland garden and ponds, organising the work of volunteers and a hundred other things that are reflected in the well-kept nature of the land at the present time.
It was clear that the Foundation was not able/willing to fund this secondment beyond this year and although the FHT would have very much liked to employ a land manager at this time, as a very young organisation it was seen as too risky to take on an employee at the moment by the trustees.
Over the last months however, an arrangement has been agreed by which the FHT pays a monthly amount to extend Kajedo’s involvement for another year and by the end of that time we should have secured grants so could have him working on the land for at least a third year. This is very good news as it means that the purposes of the trust to conserve, educate, build community and provide recreational facilities can go forward in a very positive way.
A big thank you to the Findhorn Foundation for being willing to enter into this agreement and it is great to have you on board Kajedo – your work and presence is very much noticed and appreciated by the many!
Happenings on the Land: This summer the land and Hinterland facilities have been well used. Activities have particularly centred around the woods and woodland shelter area and have ranged from night camps by a Nairn Duke of Edinburgh group, drumming and bread making sessions for adults with disability through the Foundation’s Building Bridges programme, nature activities for groups of 3 to 6 and 7 to 11 year olds as part of the Children and Youth in Community summer activities, a burial of a local gentleman in our green burial ground, a couple of informal birthday celebrations around a fire and even a small wedding reception for Sarah Alexander and Trevor Simpson who were married in the village and wanted a contained outdoor space for this special event.
To make sure that there is no conflict with bookings, activities are appropriate, the area is respected and cared for and that there is something positive put back into the land, we provide written guides for the use of the areas and a booking system. This material can be found under Hinterland Facilities on the website.