Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands (DGW) is a new charity, established to support trees, habitats and the people that depend upon them. April 2026 has seen a major milestone for the organisation, which now employs its own staff and is taking steps to establish itself on a longer-term footing.
In 2023, a partnership developed between Woodland Trust Scotland, Borders Forest Trust, Scottish Forestry and Dumfries & Galloway Council. The potential for a new organisation was identified to work on a region-wide basis, planting the next generation of native trees and building on previous work to harness interest in our woodland heritage. Dumfries & Galloway is playing an important role in the UK’s Transition to Net Zero and this was an opportunity to explore how our region’s significance on this topic can deliver increasing returns locally and address some of the challenges the region faces.
With financial support from these partners and a private donor, a Development Officer was appointed in October 2023 and work got underway. Progress was given a significant boost in February 2024 when The National Lottery Heritage Fund stepped in with a major grant of £194,000. This allowed the recruitment of two further members of staff, funded a range of activities and events and allowed the establishment process to be significantly accelerated.
All work to date has benefitted from the support of Borders Forest Trust. All three of the members of the DGW team were Borders Forest Trust employees, bringing a whole range of support, from info knowledge sharing through to administrative assistance such as IT provision.
DGW continues to increase in stature and activity, now having 9 DGW trustees, drawn from the membership of more than 350 people. Projects underway vary from small scale planting schemes to landscape scale tree discussions, school events and public activities, innovative private sector forestry relationships and even DGW’s first land purchase of Bennel Wood near Dalbeattie.
01 April 2026 saw a major milestone for the new organisation, with the three members of the team transferring over from Borders Forest Trust employment to become DGW employees, functioning as a truly stand-alone organisation.
McNabb Laurie, DGW Manager, said:
“We are working to plant the next generation of native trees in Dumfries & Galloway, deliver maximum benefit for the region and build a tree-loving community. Many thanks to the support of everyone since 2023 in getting us to this stage – landowners across the region, project partners and funders, and everyone who has attended an event or helped out.
The moment we transferred the three members of the team from being Borders Forest Trust Employees to Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands Employees is a milestone for so many reasons. We can now plan for the longer term, with options to increase staffing further.
This is only possible thanks to everyone that has helped us so far, with particular mention to the Borders Forest Trust team for their work to incubate and help us as a new organisation, and the grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund which has massively accelerated our development. This has allowed us to deliver more tree-related activity in the first three years than we thought possible! Join our journey! See our website for details.”
Laura Alcock-Ferguson, Chief Executive of Borders Forest Trust, added:
“Borders Forest Trust has been delighted to support and incubate Dumfries and Galloway Woodlands, and we offer our heartiest congratulations as they begin this exciting new chapter. It has been a pleasure to work alongside such a fantastic team, who carry out such important work across Southwest Scotland.
We look forward to continuing our close relationship, and we wish them every success in their ambitious and inspirational efforts to plant native trees, and foster a thriving tree community, across the Dumfries and Galloway region.”
For more information about Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands, follow them on social media, visit the website www.dgwoodlands.org.uk or sign up for the newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/iAlL6k. Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands is registered in Scotland as a SCIO, number 052525.
Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands is a membership organisation. If you’d like to join as a member, visit the website. For any further info, please contact mcnabb.laurie@dgwoodlands.org.
For more information about Borders Forest Trust, visit: https://bordersforesttrust.org/.