‘Tree Oscars’ deadline approaches!
The deadline for entries to find the finest farm woodlands in Scotland is just a fortnight away - so get your entry in quickly!
Scottish Woodlands Ltd sponsors the Farm Woodland Award for Young People as part of Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards - also known as the ‘Tree Oscars’.
The annual awards recognise the highest quality in forests, woodland and woodland education - in a programme supported by the whole forestry and wood-using community. Find out more here about entering by Friday 31st March.
In addition to Farm Woodland, there are three awards for Quality Timber (including one for New Commercial Woodland), for New Native Woodland and for Community Woodlands - as well as a Climate Change Award and prizes for those introducing children in schools and early years settings to the wonder of woods.
Scottish Woodlands Ltd has sponsored the Farm Woodland Award for Young People (aged 40 or under when the awards close on 31st March 2023) since 2019.
The inaugural award went to Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer of Lynbreck Croft, near Grantown-on-Spey.
Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer of Lynbreck Croft, near Grantown-on-Spey
After a Covid hiatus in 2020, the 2021 winners were James and Nikki Yoxall who farm at Howemill, near Huntly, Aberdeenshire. Judges said they had created a “wonderful example of a unique integration of trees and farming."
In 2022, the winner was Allanfauld Farm, Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire - a superb collaboration between farmer John MacGregor and forester Andy Maclachlan, a Regional Manager with Scottish Woodlands Ltd.
Ian Robinson, Managing Director of Scottish Woodlands Ltd, said: "We’re hoping for another great winner in 2023 to follow the three exceptional winners we have honoured so far. We know there is some fantastic and very innovative work being done by young people on farms across Scotland.”
Jean Nairn, Executive Director of Scotland’s Finest Woods, the charity which runs the Awards, said: “The wonderful efforts across Scotland to use forests and woodlands to mitigate, adapt and educate everyone about the climate crisis will rightly be recognised through the Awards. This encompasses the forestry and farming sectors as well as schools and communities – all of whom play their part in helping Scotland overcome the environmental challenges facing us all.”