Alpkit Foundation awarded a grant to help subsidize a weeks residential trip to Camas and materials for a deer fence.
Camas is run as part of the Iona Community, a charitable organisation that works with vulnerable young people from areas of extreme poverty in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Each year the centre runs at a loss due to offering affordable residential weeks to the groups, as a result of this outside funding is needed to fund projects to develop the centre. As an ongoing project they are keen to reforest a part of the land behind the buildings which involves clearing the land of bracken, digging drainage ditches, buying and erecting a deer fence, planting and mulching 250 native trees.
In doing this it will help with the conservation and regeneration of Mull landscape, with the woods increasing biodiversity of the local area, help prevent land erosion and create a shelter belt for future woodland sites.
The first phase of the project has happened and Abbi from Camas reported back on proceedings so far... " volunteers who came to work on the project they lived in community for week an isolated setting were part of a team which brought fence down track miles foot gained sense accomplishment and met new people furthered their own self development. this is all aimed at benefitting local landscape by enabling be erected we will then able plant woodland more help increase biodiversity land eventually what can used eg. bee keeping fire wood shelter building charcoal burning etc. first stage was successful. gather bring materials clear dig drainage erect fence. phase two planting trees>
The existing woodland at the Camas site was planted 20 years ago and is now used as an area for young people to use as a recreation space, to learn woodland skills such as fire lighting, den building, water filtration techniques and provides a rare example of how Mull's landscape would have once been. The woodland is now mature enough to begin coppicing for fire wood and building materials for the centre, as the centre is run entirely off-grid this is of extremely high value. The new woodland will be planted with much the same outcomes in mind.
"Each year we host roughly 500 young people and vulnerable adults at the centre who all benefit either directly or in-directly from the woodlands. The success of this project has inspired us to extend the project and we are now fencing off a larger area to be planted as woodland. We are meeting with the Woodland Trust to discuss this at the end of the month and are hoping to get over 1000 trees planted over the next two years!"