Latest news with #SallyReynolds
The Herald Scotland
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
New unit aims to build partnerships between communities and developers
A new unit is being launched aimed at building partnerships between landowners, communities and developers involved in natural capital projects. The Natural Capital Community Partnerships (NCCP) project aims to establish fair and practical examples of projects where communities, developers and landowners work together to share in the benefits of natural capital investment. The new unit will be led by Dr Sally Reynolds, who has significant experience working in community development and of 'walking the tightrope' between different interests in the land use sector. 'We want to promote understanding and cooperation between different parties', said Dr Reynolds. 'We want to encourage open conversation and early dialogue between communities, landowners and developers.' Dr Reynolds highlighted that community engagement is crucial. She added: 'Well-managed peatland or wetland restoration or woodland development projects can support both environmental restoration and community development and resilience. It can create local jobs, boost local economies and sustain livelihoods - maximising the benefits for communities.' READ MORE: New report highlights how crofting helps keep Eigg's cultural traditions alive Call for delay to controversial sale of Skye castle and estate New community-led homes development on Colonsay will be 'transformational' There are already a number of successful, collaborative projects across Scotland, such as the community-owned Assynt Foundation in Sutherland, which has a major forest development project with Woodland Trust Scotland. In Dumfries and Galloway, Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company has a partnership with Upper Urr Environmental Trust which has allowed them to develop the area for community use including the installation of a path network, benches and a range of community events. Dr Reynolds said: 'This is a new and unique project doing a lot of work on-the-ground. It's a key ambition that Scotland's land should benefit more of Scotland's people. With good conversations at an early stage there is greater understanding and a much greater chance of agreements that suit everyone.' 'As far as possible, the community, landowners and developers should be able to form agreements that are meaningful and beneficial for all parties.' The Natural Capital Community Partnerships will have a team of four staff and will work within Community Land Scotland and in partnership with the Scottish Land Commission. The Community Land Scotland team will work as part of a network of advisers across Scotland including the newly appointed Community Benefits from Nature Adviser employed by the Scottish Land Commission in partnership with the Cairngorms National Park Authority. Emma Cooper, Head of Land Rights and Responsibilities at the Scottish Land Commission, said: 'This project is a really important step in making sure natural capital investment delivers for communities as well as for nature. 'We're pleased to be working alongside Community Land Scotland, including through our new Community Benefits from Nature Adviser, to support fair and practical approaches in communities across Scotland. 'Our land is a finite resource that needs to meet many different needs. By helping communities, landowners and developers work together from the outset, this initiative can turn potential tensions into lasting, shared benefits.' The project is funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Foundation Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise, Scottish Forestry and others. Jane Morrison-Ross, Chief Executive of South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) said: 'As Scotland's Natural Capital Innovation Zone we continue to take a forward-thinking approach in the South of Scotland to creating a wellbeing economy based on our natural capital assets. 'Community Wealth Building is one of our key priorities, so we are delighted to be working with Community Land Scotland and partners in delivering this groundbreaking national project.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fossil footprints in New Mexico reveal what may be oldest known handcarts, researchers say
WHITE SANDS, N.M. (KRQE) – New research of drag marks found alongside ancient human footprints discovered in White Sands National Park may represent one of the earliest pieces of evidence for the use of transport technology. Follow-up study confirms age of fossil human footprints found at White Sands National Park The research was published in the journal 'Quaternary Science Advances' in January and was compiled by a team of experts from across the United States and the United Kingdom. Two of those researchers were Sally Reynolds, an associate professor in Hominin Palaeoecology at Bournemouth University, and her husband Matthew Bennett, a professor of Environmental and Geographical Sciences at Bournemouth University. 'We found these traces pre-COVID, and they were just these long drag marks in the sand,' Reynolds said. 'So we were trying to think of the most logical explanations for these very few drag structures that we found. But over the years, they just kept popping up. Different places, different orientations, different locations.' Reynolds and Bennett worked with other researchers to figure out what the drag marks alongside the 21,000 to 23,000-year-old footprints might be. The team first considered that the marks may have been from people pulling a canoe or branches for firewood, but they ruled it out after reviewing other research. 'By process of elimination, we thought, you know what? It makes most sense that people are using this technology to travel from an area of intense activity, probably back to their living area, which is how we came up with the idea of hand carts,' Reynolds explained. According to the research, the carts, or travois, may have been made of wooden poles that were dragged. Researchers have not found any evidence that animals were involved in pulling these carts, which suggests that they were pulled by humans. 'So it was clear that unlike the later Native American travois, which you may have seen pictures of, are drawn by horses or donkeys or dogs, these were drawn by humans. And suddenly we realized we were looking at the earliest transport technology, basically a wheelbarrow, but without the wheel,' said Reynolds. Some of the footprints found near the drag marks may have been from children, due to their smaller size. Reynolds inferred that the children may have interacted with the travois. 'It just enabled, I think, the humans, the families who were there to collect more stuff,' Reynolds said, likening the interaction to children playing and trying to climb on carts at the supermarket. 'I like the idea of the kids just trying to run around these travois while they were being pulled and find a way to get themselves on it somehow,' Reynolds added. The researchers did experimental work by making a travois to replicate the drag marks found in White Sands National Park in southern New Mexico. Tests of the travois were done on mudflats in Maine and in the United Kingdom. Examples from the tests were published in the journal 'Quaternary Science Advances' and can be found below. Looking ahead, Reynolds said she anticipates that more evidence of these trackways will be found at White Sands National Park. She also hopes to find out what materials, likely wood, may have been used to make the transportation devices and what items, including food, people may have gathered in the area thousands of years ago. At this point, the team of researchers felt it was time to share their best guess of what happened.'We've reached a point where we know as much as we're ever going to know. We want to just share our current understanding of these traces with the wider community. Who knows, perhaps somebody out there has got a different interpretation or perhaps some sort of corroboration that they could offer and something that ultimately will allow that part of the work to be carried forward,' Reynolds said. To view the full research article, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
