Free courses for land managers in the Cairngorms National Park

Woodland grazing, wildflowers and ticks will all be covered in a series of free training courses happening in the Cairngorms National Park over the course of the next few weeks!  And it’s not too late to book a place!

Organised by the Land Based Business Training Project at the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA), the workshops are free to those involved in the management of the land including estates, farms, crofts, forestry operations, outdoor recreation businesses, horticultural nurseries and countryside rangers.

The first workshop on Tuesday 27 June looks at ‘Woodland Grazing’ and takes place in the Cairngorm Hotel, Aviemore, followed by afternoon site visits. The course is aimed at farmers and other land managers and will help improve awareness and understanding about management objectives for semi-natural woodlands in the Park as well as demonstrating the potential environmental benefits and disadvantages of grazing in woodlands.

The following day in Grantown-on-Spey (Wednesday 28 June), an information session for countryside rangers on tick control will be held in the Ben Mhor Hotel. The event on ‘Tick Control and Advice for Visitors’  will give rangers the knowledge and skills to help inform visitors about ticks, how they can be picked up and the types of clothing and lotions to wear to avoid ticks. An information session on Lyme Disease and advice on checking yourself for ticks will also be a focus of the morning.

‘The Identification and Management of Wildflowers’  workshop will take place in Boat of Garten on Wednesday 5 July. This course, for land managers, farmers and rangers will help people identify and understand the management needs of some of the Cairngorms semi-natural grassland and wildflowers habitat. The course will also look at grazing impacts.

The Land Based Business Training Project Manager, Kate Christie explained: “All of these courses are free to land managers because they are helping to deliver public benefits. Places are still available on all three workshops so anyone who is interested in attending should get in touch.”

The Land Based Business Training Project is funded by the CNPA and the European Social Fund. The project can part fund courses which will help improve the competitiveness and efficiency of a business such as the use and maintenance of machinery, equipment and vehicles; environmental courses; IT and business skills and health and safety. Fully funded
courses are those which deliver public benefits such as training relating to outdoor access, disability awareness, communication or habitat management.

For more information on the Land Based Business Training project please contact Kate Christie on tel: 01479 870535 /
email: [email protected]  or Sara Krawczynska on tel: 01479 870537 / email: [email protected]