The Heather Trust is a charity registered in Scotland but operating across Great Britain.  The Heather Trust was originally set up in the 1980s to reconcile grouse and sheep farming interests on moorland at a time when the benefits for both species of an integrated approach were not as well understood as they are today.  Since that time environmental issues have come to the forefront of land use policy and management, and The Heather Trust has responded by broadening its remit.  Today we seek to promote the value of the increasingly rare heather moorland habitat, and to reconcile economic, social and environmental interests in moorland management.  Our charitable objectives more fully capture this desire.

 

We recognise the importance of multiple land use and seek to work with all sectors, including sporting interests, farming, forestry, renewables, recreation and conservation. We also help to highlight the valuable natural services that well managed uplands and moorland areas can provide, which include the provision of high quality drinking water, natural flood alleviation, the storage of carbon in peat to reduce the influence that greenhouse gasses have on climate change, the enhancement of biodiversity and the impact enjoyment the nature and the outdoors can have on physical and mental wellbeing.​


Over the years, we have supported and commissioned an important range of moorland research projects, and our ongoing work seeks to disseminate the most up-to-date findings to land managers and practitioners through practical advice and demonstration projects.  Our impartiality is valued and we are trusted to chair and facilitate meetings and gatherings where peoples interests and views on moorland management may not coincide.

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Our Vision and Mission

The Heather Trust’s beneficiaries are those that benefit from resilient, sustainable heather moorland and associated environments.  In its broadest terms this is the population of Great Britain and its visitors, since well managed moors will provide public goods such as carbon storage, water management – both quality and flood risk management, rich, diverse and unique plant and animal communities, and recreational opportunities which benefit physical and mental wellbeing.  It will also provide rural communities with employment opportunities either through direct management of the moorland or in associated industries such as tourism and recreation, which aids community cohesion and resilience, ensuring our much-loved moorlands and uplands continue to be places for people as well as nature. 

 

Thus, The Heather Trust wishes to see sustainable, resilient moorlands for the benefit of everyone.

 

To help make this vision a reality, our mission is to develop and promote sustainable, resilient moorlands through facilitation and collaboration; engagement and representation; education and demonstration based on research, experience and best practice.