Reports  Barbara Kelly This review is about many things and as you read on you will begin to appreciate the scale, challenge and the diversity of the Millennium Forest for Scotland. You will also begin to understand that this has been a celebration of our natural heritage and the determination of communities to improve and sustain it by building links with our woodlands. Above all the initiative has been rooted in the commitment to celebrate the millennium in a way which brings many and widespread benefits to people living in urban and rural areas. We must pay tribute to the original group who conceived the vision and who recognised the opportunity in Millennium Commission funding to do something in Scotland to restore our native forests in a way that could also bring about cultural, spiritual and socio-economic gain. At the beginning, the active support of Scottish Natural Heritage, the Forestry Commission and WWF Scotland was absolutely crucial. For many of us this has been a big commitment over the seven years and you will see from this Report that a very great deal has been accomplished in that time. It was never going to be easy as we have striven to deliver one of Scotland’s biggest and most complex millennium projects to the tightest of timetables. The key to success has been the creation of partnerships where literally thousands of people, volunteers, employees, agencies, NGOs, government and local authorities have worked together to make it happen. The total impact of the project has been entirely dependent on the sum of the parts – a huge jigsaw puzzle where every single piece is vital in the creation of the whole picture. We know now that between us we have put £30m into the economy of Scotland. We have over 400 sites from Muckle Flugga to the Mull of Galloway. We have planted millions of trees on thousands of hectares and made many kilometres of pathways, all creating a legacy for the future. Alongside the capital project, the development of the Millennium Forest for Scotland Millennium Award scheme with its £1m budget brought an exciting dynamic to the whole. The enthusiasm and the innovative thinking of the participants has been infectious and inspiring. Their personal development objectives have been widely met and the involvement of so many people has grown and strengthened links with woodland, wood lore and wood products. There have been so many highlights in this saga from the celebration of our first successful bid to the Millennium Commission in 1995 right through to the news in 2000 that the Millennium Forest had taken the Supreme Award in the Scottish Environmental Regeneration Awards. We were also thrilled when His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales accepted our invitation to become our Patron for our final celebratory year. His visit to the Return of the Natives exhibition in Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden set the seal on the entire initiative. The day was further marked by his planting of the symbolic final tree of the Millennium Forest. None of this would have happened without the commitment of many people. Firstly, our Trustees whose determination to stick with the project through to completion has been wholly admirable. Equally the loyalty of staff, past and present, has ensured in large measure a consistency of approach and delivery throughout. I am particularly proud that the systems we developed were subsequently used as models of good practice by the Millennium Commission. This is a measure of the calibre of our staff who worked under the visionary leadership of our Director, Penny Cousins. We were delighted when Penny’s efforts were justly recognised in the year 2000 by the award of her OBE. Our project partners require equal recognition. Restoring woodland, with all the elements it entails – forming partnerships, acquiring land, fencing, planting and raising trees – is a long-term undertaking. It is certainly not an easy task to carry out all this within the relatively short timescale of initiatives such as the Millennium Forest. In particular, I know that the accounting systems accompanying Lottery funding have presented a challenge to which we have all had to rise. In addition, there were many people who had put great enthusiasm and effort into the very ambitious but unsuccessful bid for a major third phase – I am delighted that through prudent financial management we were actually able to help 24 of these projects get underway, but some remained disappointed. To them all I say thank you and well done. Thanks are also due to our Advisory Committee who have kept a watchful eye on our progres and were ever willing to help us when asked. We have particularly valued the wise counsel and support of the Earl of Dalkeith in his role as Millennium Commissioner for Scotland. Which brings me on to the Millennium Commission itself – the Lottery funding granted by the Commission was the central element in enabling all this visionary work to be done in the first place. It really provided the catalyst that was required to spark off such a huge partnership effort and we are most grateful for that vital input. Along the way we have benefited greatly from the assistance of the people involved such as Jennifer Iles and Nigel Hacket on the capital projects and Erica Roberts and her team on the Awards. Now, as the project draws to a conclusion, we look to the future. We are most anxious to ensure the continuing momentum towards the successful development of native woodland and the re-connection of those beneficial links with communities. Unquestionably, there is now a greater recognition of the importance of these issues and I trust this drive will continue unabated. One of the privileges of convening the Trust has been the opportunity to visit projects and meet the people on the ground. I am in no doubt that everyone who has been involved can enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that through their efforts they have made a real difference. This project is not just for today, but for the future benefit of generations yet to come. There can be no more fitting way of celebrating the coming of the third millennium.