How many times has this happened to you: You’re at a loss because you can’t decide whether to obtain a hereditary title in Scotland or put your money towards bolstering the environment and reversing the effects of development on the landscape? Well, it turns out that there’s a way that you can do both.
At Mental Floss, Ellen Gutoskey reported on a program implemented in 2006 in the Scottish Highlands. (You might know the region for its striking landscapes or for its acclaimed distilleries.) Working in tandem with his daughter Laura, zoologist Peter Bevis established a plan to sell off portions of the family’s Highlands estate and plant trees there. If this sounds familiar, it’s because the concept of rewilding has found a growing number of advocates in recent years.
As the Mental Floss article explains, Bevis’s organization Highland Titles allows people to purchase square-foot-sized plots in the Highlands starting at $45. And because the titles Lord, Laird and Lady are traditionally associated with ownership of land in Scotland, doing so entitles the buyer to the use of one of those titles. Opting for a large enough plot also means that a tree will be planted on the land — though, as the organization’s FAQ explains, not necessarily in Glencoe Wood itself, where this all began, due to there being a large number of trees there already.
On his own website, Bevis writes about the need to “reclaim the sites of ancient woods from the gloomy and arid Sitka while there is yet time.” It’s an ongoing project, and one that shows no signs of slowing down.
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