Cairngorms Connect Cohort

The Cairngorms Connect Partners share a 200-year vision for restoring this landscape. Working on the timescales of forests and rivers requires new thinking, and a bold long-term commitment to working sustainably – both with these ecosystems, and with local communities.   

We are interested in ways in which Cairngorms Connect can work intergenerationally and provide meaningful opportunities for the next generation to get involved with the Partnership.  

Alongside our work with local schools and youth groups, ‘cohort’ is a project developed by Cairngorms Connect and local young people, aged 18-25.  
Over a series of workshops, this small group of motivated individuals agreed on a shared statement of intent:  

‘Promoting connections with the Cairngorms Connect landscape through creating space, skills, knowledge, and community for young people to find their own inspiration and place within this landscape.’  

^{Members of the Cairngorms Connect Cohort pose with their statement of intent on the final morning of a residential in 2023. Photo: Lizzie Brotherston}

Between 2023 and 2024, the group worked together to develop and deliver a project centred on supporting other young people to access nature. The group identified a lack of information and conversations about menstruating in the outdoors as a barrier to safe and equitable access to nature.  

Through research and discussions, the group produced a webpage and informative leaflet which answers commonly asked questions to help people who menstruate manage a period in the outdoors. 

^{The Cohort's Menstruating in the Mountains leaflet has been distributed to a number of outdoor centres and community hubs in the local area. Photo Lizzie Brotherston}

The cohort is a youth-led, always evolving project. To stay up to date with future opportunities to get involved with the group, sign up to receive our newsletter.

About Cairngorms Connect

Cairngorms Connect is a partnership of neighbouring land managers (Wildland Limited, Forestry and Land Scotland, RSPB Scotland and NatureScot) committed to delivering habitat enhancement across a vast 600 square kilometre area within the Cairngorms National Park, a scale unparalleled in Britain. Click here to find out more.

^{Feature Image: Illustration elements by Holly Acland}