Langholm Initiative – Creating the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve

Why you should vote for Langholm Initiative – Creating the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve for the People’s Choice Award

This project termed 'the impossible dream' offered a source of hope and inspiration which so many people came to support. Against the odds, we came together with an ambitious vision, passion, resilience and hope. We did not give up and harnessed the power of an army of local volunteers, a network of partners and with the help of thousands of people from across the world, we made this happen. We are now one of the UK's largest community-led ecological restoration projects. We want to show that communities can make a real difference in the climate and nature emergency response.

The community of Langholm made the headlines in 2021 with its historic land buy out from Buccleuch Estates. A huge fundraising campaign spearheaded by a small community in Dumfries and Galloway raised £3.8m in just 6 months to bring 5,200 acres of land into community ownership. It’s now a place where we’re setting out a bold vision to create the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve which will help tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, restore nature at a huge scale and support community regeneration. An inspiring initiative that's pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved for people and planet.