The Wildland Research Institute
Research

The institute's research aims to improve our thinking on wild land and natural processes, create a new framework for understanding and valuing natural and semi-natural environments, and seek to enhance our relationship with wild nature.


The basis of the research will be:


  • The nature of the intrinsic value of wild land
  • Perceptions of wild land, its cultural and ecological components
  • Identifying and valuing ecosystem goods and services from wild lands


    • More specific areas of research will include:


  • Protected area management in the UK, its current and future goals
  • Integration of wild land into the wider landscape - new paradigms for land use and agriculture in a landscape continuum
  • Spatial strategies for large-scale rewildling
  • Delivering wild land values in multi-functional landscapes and habitat networks
  • Developing a Recreational Opportunity Spectrum for current and future landscapes
  • Fear and danger - the barriers to species reintroduction
  • The integration of wild land with open countryside and the peri-urban landscape
  • Developing and inspiring a future view of wild land in the literary and artistic milieu
  • Using visual and spatial approaches to envisioning new, wilder landscapes

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    Research contracts and consultancy:

  • 2007-2008 Mapping wildness in the Cairngorms National Park.
  • 2009 A reconnaissance level survey of wild land in the UK for the John Muir Trust.
  • 2010 A review of the status and conservation of wild land in Europe for the Scottish Government.
  • 2010 Mapping wildness in the Loch Lomond National Park.
  • 2010 Mapping wildness in the southern extension of the Cairngorm National Park.
  • 2010 Research Joint Venture Agreement on Modelling Wilderness Character with US Forest Service and Leopold Institute Montana.
  • 2010 Technical advice and assistance to SNH on national level mapping of wildness in Scotland.

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    Key outputs

  • "Wildness study in the Cairngorms National Park"
    Report prepared for the Cairngorms National Park Authority and SNH, 2008.
  • "A review of the status and conservation of wild land in Europe"
    Report prepared for the Scottish Government, November 2010.
  • A reconnaissance level wild land map of the UK for the John Muir Trust’s new vision http://www.jmt.org/vision.asp
  • "Europe's Ecological Backbone: Recognising the true value of our mountains" http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/europes-ecological-backbone
  • "10 messages for 2010 – mountain ecosystems"
    http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/10-messages-for-2010-mountain-ecosystems

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    Web mapping pages

  • "Where is wild Scotland?"
  • "Wilderness Britain?"