I am employed by Woodland Trust Scotland as the Site Manager across the North of Scotland. My Fellowship looks to understand different models for managing invasive plant removal, with an appropriate and flexible funding landscape, tackling the issue holistically at scale, and ensuring sustainability through the involvement of communities, young people and land managers.

My interest in this comes from dealing with a range of invasive plants throughout the sites I manage and in seeking an approach focused on outcomes Ð ensuring the land is purposefully managed beyond the initial control, particularly for the protection of designated sites and globally threatened habitat such as temperate rainforest.

From the research undertaken, I aim to develop projects in two Special Areas of Conservation, effectively removing the assemblage of invasive non-native plants from the sites and the wider landscape. This will involve a range of stakeholders and communities, developing training and education opportunities for young people, and ensuring that there are local people with the interest and skills to make the work a success, while also valuing the social and economic benefits.