Working Together For Tomorrow's Future

Hi, my name is Heather Johnstone and I am 17 years old. I work as a volunteer with Fife Air Cadets Conservation Group (F.A.C.C.G.) and have done so for the last 3½ years as an air cadet. I have just left cadets but will stay with the Group for many years to come as I am about to go to college to start an NC in Countryside Management. The Group's motto is “Working together for tomorrow's future” and we achieve this by doing conservation work locally, nationally and internationally. We are a youth group including air cadets and explorer scouts but there are also many other families and individuals who volunteer with the group.

I love going out and working with the Group in all weathers. We have a lot of fun as we help to conserve and preserve our countryside and environment for this generation and those to come. Locally we do a lot of work for the Falkland estate. We help the Falkland in Bloom team maintain 'The Secret Garden' at Sugaracre by planting fruit trees and vegetables and watering/weeding the beds as required. We have also built a wildlife pond and a compost area in the garden from scratch.

At Chancefield on the Falkland estate we operate 'Project Treecycle'. This project has taught many of us woodworking skills using reclaimed timber. I made a footstool out of oak and ash. We also help clear the woodlands of non-native species so that our native ones can grow stronger and promote wildlife. As part of the project we have recently made benches for North Glenrothes Community group to be used in Gilvenbank Park. We have also built many bird and animal habitat boxes, also using reclaimed timber, for use locally and at Craggan Outdoor Centre.

F.A.C.C.G. own a 50 acre plot at Glen Dochart, near Killin known as 'The Colin Burt Reserve for Wildlife', (more info at www.projectwoodland.co.uk). We have developed this to include a wetland area, woodland and wildflower meadow amongst others. As a group we also used traditional woodcraft techniques to build a bird hide – you can see photos on the website.

Twice a year we travel to High Wray in the Lake District to do conservation work for the National Trust. We have cleared rhododendrons, rebuilt dry-stane walls, removed deer fences and built pathways amongst other things. But it's not all work because we get to explore too and try out archery, mountain biking and hill-walking. We work under the ethos of the John Muir Trust to discover, explore, conserve and share.

Every couple of years we also undertake an international project. In 2005 the Group travelled to Czech Republic. I joined the group in 2006 and in 2007 we went to Tatra National Park in Zakopane in southern Poland and Krakow. This year we are heading to Bukk National Park in northern Hungary and we will also spend some time in Budapest. We will be working with the local ranger service to help create tourist information boards, build footpaths and do other conservation tasks.

To keep costs down we do a lot of fundraising such as bagpacking and we recently did a sponsored cycle from Glasgow to Edinburgh and a walk along the Forth-Clyde canal footpath. We are also lucky enough to work with company sponsors such as Exxon Mobil, Securecycle, Carillion, Scottish Native Woodlands, S & R Transport and others. We carry out conservation work for these companies in exchange for donations and materials.

You may have gathered that I am really enthusiastic for the work that F.A.C.C.G. do and I have only described a fraction of the work that we do. In the last two years, as a group, we have managed to complete over 17,000 volunteer hours. If you want to help the environment or just want to find out more about what we do, then check out the rest of our website and then come along and start volunteering!