A community in Dumfries and Galloway is setting out to raise £2.2 million to double the size of a vast new nature reserve, in stage two of the South of Scotland’s biggest ever community land buyout.
The Langholm Initiative charity aims to buy 5,300 acres of Langholm Moor and three residential properties from Buccleuch, and so expand the
Tarras Valley Nature Reserve to 10,500 acres.
Success would boost plans for community regeneration, including nature-based tourism opportunities, and for tackling the nature and climate emergencies.
“We’re aiming to repeat the impossible and open a new chapter in this inspiring story of hope and community by doubling the size of Tarras Valley Nature Reserve – and so doubling the benefits for people, nature and climate,” said Jenny Barlow, the reserve’s Estate Manager.
The nature reserve was created earlier this year after the community’s historic purchase of a similar-sized swathe of the wildlife-rich and culturally important land from Buccleuch, in a fundraising drive described as an “impossible dream”.
There is now a race against time to secure the additional 5,300 acres. Buccleuch’s offer of keeping the land off the open market is time limited, and the community needs to raise the funds by next May.
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Posted On: 27/10/2021