Communities and nature working together
The Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape is one of the largest landscape-scale conservation initiatives in Europe, aiming to benefit the land, people and local economy in the north west of Scotland.
The CALL Vision
It’s 2050; the communities of Coigach and Assynt are working together to achieve a truly living landscape through improved understanding of their environment and the impacts of climate change; shared active management providing a diverse range of connected and resilient habitats; creation of local employment and training opportunities, and building on the communities’ strong cultural heritage linked to the land.
What does the programme involve?
Working with landowners and local people, the Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape aims to restore the health of the whole ecosystem by improving and reconnecting habitats (especially native woodlands) and creating rural employment and volunteering opportunities.
What was the CALL Partnership Scheme?
The Coigach and Assynt Living Landscape Partnership Scheme (CALLP) was a five-year National Lottery Heritage Funded project comprising 14 Partner organisations, of which the Scottish Wildlife Trust was the lead partner. CALLP was a mechanism for delivering outputs of the CALL 40-year vision.
The Partnership comprised community landowners, community interest groups, charitable landowners, private landowners and charitable membership organisations. The eclectic group of organisations involved represent and reflect the unique heritage and structure of land ownership and management present in this part of the Highlands.
Collectively, these Partners committed to delivering a Scheme comprising over 30 individual projects between September 2016-2021.
You can find out more about the Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape in the first episode of our Words of the Wild podcast series.
Who are the partners?
The Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape (CALL) Area currently comprises the following organisations: Assynt Field Club; Assynt Foundation, Culag Community Woodland Trust; Eisg Brachaidh Estate; John Muir Trust (Quinag); Kylesku Estate; North West Highlands Geopark; Scottish Wildlife Trust (Ben Mor Coigach); Tanera Mòr; Woodland Trust.
These landowners and organisations have joined forces to work together to deliver one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects ever undertaken in the UK – an aspirational 50-year plan to bring woodland connectivity, species-rich flora and fauna, and economic growth back to the Scottish uplands.
