Alan Watson Featherstone

Alan Watson Featherstone (born 10 February 1954) is a Scottish ecologist. He is a natural history photographer, speaker and the founder of the conservation charity Trees for Life.

Biography

During the 1970s he travelled throughout the United States, Canada and South America.^[1] On his return to the United Kingdom, he joined the Findhorn Foundation in 1978.^[1] In October 1986 he organised for an international conference on the world's ecological crisis called, 'One Earth: A Call to Action', involving 240 delegates.^[1]

In 1986, he formed Trees for Life, with the aim of restoring the Caledonian Forest and its wildlife to the Scottish Highlands.^[1] The charity works in partnership with the Forestry Commission, the National Trust for Scotland and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) at a number of sites to the west of Loch Ness and Inverness.^[2] As of April 2014, the charity has planted over one million native trees.^[1] In August 2008, Featherstone oversaw the purchase of the 4,000 hectare Dundreggan Estate for £1.65 million in Glenmoriston.^[3] The charity has received numerous awards.^[1] He has helped to inspire similar ecological restoration projects in the Scottish Borders, Dartmoor in England and the Yendegaia National Park Project in Tierra del Fuego, Chile.^[1]

Featherstone gives lectures and workshops and has spoken at the World Wilderness Congress, the Society for Conservation Biology annual conference and the Society for Ecological Restoration conference.^[1] He has written articles for journals and magazines as well as appearing on television and radio.^[1] He is also a nature photographer. He produced the Findhorn Nature Calendar from 1983 to 1994 and the annual Trees for Life Calendar and Diary from 1988 to 2017.^[1] His photographs have been published in Time, BBC Wildlife magazine and the Encyclopædia Britannica.^[1]

In 2002, Featherstone established the Restoring the Earth project, "to promote the restoration of the planet's degraded ecosystems as the most important task for humanity in the 21st century".^[1] The project is overseen by the Earth Restoration Service of which Featherstone is a trustee.^[1][4] He is also a trustee and former chairman of Wild Things! an environmental education charity based in the North of Scotland and a former trustee of the Findhorn Foundation.^[2] He is a trustee of the Findhorn Hinterland Trust, and Trees for Hope, a charity that promotes the ecological restoration of the Fertlle Crescent region.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001 he received the Schumacher Award from the Schumacher Society, for "his inspirational and practical work on conserving and restoring degraded ecosystems".^[5]

Awards

• Schumacher Award from the Schumacher Society, 2001.^[5]
• Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards – Environment, 2012.^[6]
• RSPB, Outstanding Contribution Award, 2013.^[7]