Glensaugh
Glensaugh is managed as an upland livestock farm, just over 1,000 ha in area, with sheep, cattle and red deer, improved and extensive pastures, moorland, woodland and peatland. The Highland Boundary Fault divides Glensaugh into two distinct geological zones.
Glensaugh currently has about 17% woodland cover, which is being proactively managed and expanded – for carbon storage, biodiversity and other benefits – reflecting the ambitions of the UK and Scottish Governments. It is unique in also having an area of mature agroforestry, planted in the 1980s, to explore the production benefits of integrating trees within a livestock farming system.
This has provided a living demonstration of the longer-term practicalities of agroforestry management as well as the wider environmental benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Learn more about Glensaugh
Glensaugh project lead:
Alison Hester
Senior Scientist and Baillie Gifford Entrepreneurial Research Fellow
Based in Aberdeen
T: +44 (0)344 928 5428 (*)
Professor Alison Hester FRSB FRSGS is a senior scientist and Baillie Gifford Entrepreneurial Research Fellow at the James Hutton Institute, UK. She did her Degree at King’s College University of London, PhD at Aberdeen University/CEH and a Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellowship at CSIRO Western Australia. Alison has over 30 years research experience (with c200 scientific publications and contract reports) and an international reputation in biodiversity, conservation and land management. Much of her research forms an integral part of large, interdisciplinary projects and she works closely with scientists, land managers, communities and policy-makers in different parts of the world. In recent years she has taken a lead role in bringing together and managing diverse teams of scientists in the highly interdisciplinary research area of natural capital and Ecosystem Services, both within the institute and through a range of international collaborations.
