Heritage

ENHANCING CULTURES, HERITAGE AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

CAITHNESS ENVIRONMENT FORUM
This Forum is a subgroup of the Partnership which brings representatives of community and agency bodies to discuss environmental issues in Caithness. The forums work in the past focused on four topics:

• Carrying out a Greenspace Audit in Caithness
• Long term timber supply
• Recycling (particularly farm wastes)
• Agri-environment funding and biodiversity

The group now meet when any environmental issues arise and have set up a sub group to assess the applications recieved for the partnerships Caithness Environmental Grant scheme which is funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Highland Leader Programme.

Caithness Environmental Fund
The scheme encourages community groups to apply for financial assistance towards the delivery of projects in Caithness that help care for the natural environment and increase the community's enjoyment, awareness and sense of responsibility for nature locally. The Caithness Environmental Fund focuses on "involvement" and "biodiversity" and aims to increase opportunities for people to learn about and look after nature. It will also provide support to implement actions from the Caithness Biodiversity Action Plan which is underpinned by the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

Full details and application form of the Caithness Environmental Grant scheme can be downloaded from the download section under Heritage.

CAITHNESS BIODIVERSITY
The Caithness Biodiversity Action Group (CBAG) is supported by Highland Council and its role is to oversee the implementation of the Biodiversity Action Plan for the county. The group is made up of individuals with specialist environmental knowledge, Highland Council Rangers, RSPB, the National Farmers Union, and other interested individuals and organisations. They are continuously working on a list of projects to enhance and promote biodiversity in Caithness. Further information of CBAG and links to the Caithness Biodiversity Action Plan are available from the Highland Biodiversity Website.

Caithness Archaeology

The Caithness Archaeological Trust (CAT) was set up in 2002 to promote and co-ordinate the development of all aspects of archaeology in Caithness. CAT aims to re-engage the people of Caithness with their heritage and cultural roots in a positive way, not only as spectators but as active participants in the development and conservation of an increasingly threatened cultural resource.

Achavanich is being developed by Caithness Heritage Tourism Advisory Group, a steering group set up following a public meeting initiated by the Highland Council. The project aims to enable physical access and introduce interpretation to the site allowing people to learn about the local heritage. Developing the archaeology is vital to allow communities access to their heritage and to bring on the fledgling archaeological tourist industry.

THE ARTS IN CAITHNESS
Caithness is fortunate to have a wealth of activity in all the arts sectors - performance, visual, crafts and the written word - and many people and organisations with an interest in the arts belong to a group called Caithness Arts
. This group aims to support and develop arts activity in Caithness. A primary objective is to achieve improved performance facilities in the county, to showcase the work of its member groups and to encourage visiting national and international arts companies to come to the far north.

The Caithness Partnership facilitates a Caithness Arts Forum which provides a round-table where people from the arts community and the public agencies can come together constructively. The objectives of the Forum are as follows:
• To develop a local policy for arts
• To provide a forum for the exchange of views on how member organisations can work together well
• To develop a higher profile for the arts economically and culturally
• To allow communities to feedback to each other and the public agencies about their arts activities/projects
• To help develop a common view of the arts as integral to a healthy economic and social infrastructure
• To ensure that the arts sector is fully involved in the community planning agenda for Caithness
Minutes of meetings can be found here under the Heritage section.

The forum have formed a sub group to produce a draft Arts strategy from which a consultation process will follow to enable a final strategy to be adopted by the Arts and community of Caithness.

Caithness Partnership

Heritage

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