From the start, the North East LBAP has aimed to support and involve community groups and individuals. Three of the action plans released in March 2000 were developed as community based projects. The Powis Area Action Plan, has been run entirely by local residents in the Powis housing estate in Aberdeen, working with the city council and funded by the Aberdeen Countryside Project. Powis had a relatively large area of open space, with extensive areas of short-mown grass, no hedges and very few shrubs. Local people have established hedges, constructed nesting habitats for birds and planted wildflowers, fruit trees and climbers. they have already made a great contribution to the city's biodiversity. Just as importantly, working together on the project has helped improve networking between groups in the community and encouraged a greater sense of ownership in the area. The project has proved the value of Local Area Action Plans in the biodiversity process in the North East, and there are now proposals for similar projects in other areas.

Fife has now held two successful biodiversity weeks, catering to a wide variety of audiences. Activities during the weeks ranged from a 'sleep-over under the sea' at the Deep Sea World aquarium in North Queensferry to 'herb walks' to discover herbal medicines, a 'nature's larder' ramble, and a biodiversity poetry evening. West Lothian has held themed weeks on water and woodlands, relating to strategic priorities in the LBAP. Other LBAP areas are planning similar events in the future.

At a very early stage in the Orkney LBAP, it was decided that the best way to get local communities involved was to write Area Action Plans. The island of Sanday was chosen as a pilot because it is rich in biodiversity, and the islanders expressed a great deal of interest in their biodiversity. An initial draft plan was written with an audit of all the species, habitats and areas of interest present on Sanday together with a list of actions to conserve and enhance the island's biodiversity. The proposed actions were linked to the overall species and habitat plans for Orkney, which can be linked to both the Scottish and UKBAP

The Community Biodiversity Officer met local biodiversity contacts on the island and discussed the plan in detail. Then a revised draft was taken to the Community Council for endorsement. This was duly given, and it is now hoped that the Community Council will take account of the action plan when they make decisions for the island. Copies of the plan have been made available in shops and post offices around the island.

The important point of course is that the scope of the plan would have been inadequate without the consultation of the islanders, who added a great deal of local knowledge and information. Stimulated by work on the plan, local naturalists have volunteered to carry out surveys of Sanday, to improve knowledge of the species present on the island. The islanders may also produce a leaflet to tell people of the rich biodiversity that exists on Sanday and the sea around it, and where and when to see it. This whole process has greatly raised the awareness of local people to the biodiversity of Sanday. As a result, it is their plan about their island. Orkney propose to eventually produce 25 of these Area Action Plans, covering every island and parish. These plans will then be incorporated into the overall Orkney BAP.

Gardening has enormous potential for contributing to and enhancing local biodiversity. The link is also a good way of raising awareness of biodiversity amongst the public. West Lothian LBAP recognised this and included gardens in its list of target habitats. First a gardening for wildlife award was introduced to the council's annual gardens competition, and then a full page was allocated to the theme in the council's quarterly newspaper. This emphasised the benefits of growing your own vegetables, and gave advice on how to improve gardens for wildlife, how to avoid polluting, and how to recycle and conserve. To broaden awareness, it also considered the probable impact of climate change. The gardening theme allowed many environmental messages to be put across, with biodiversity at the core, to 60,000 homes across the area.

The North East Scotland LBAP partnership made similar moves promoting a wildlife gardening initiative to encourage the use of native and wildlife-friendly species and to promote the supply and use of peat-free compost. Local garden centres are helping to develop a series of posters to promote appropriate species and products for the area. Because horticultural peat is extracted from - and eventually destroys - living raised bog habitats, the campaign for the use of peat free alternatives also supports the objectives of the Lowland Raised Bog Local Habitat Action Plan.

Community involvement in the LBAP is being encouraged in Dumfries & Galloway by a Community Mapping Project. In 2000, several communities tested this approach, training has been given and a manual written by the South West Environmental Action Project and the LBAP partnership. The idea is to map the biodiversity of local areas, find out which features people value, and then to stimulate the local community into action, whether through active site management, art projects or education. This has given an insight into how local people value biodiversity and what they can do to help its maintenance and enhancement. Using experiences from the first year, the organisers are hoping to expand the project to other areas of the region and produce material to help local communities take part in Community Mapping Projects in the future.

Callander Meadows is an area of amenity grassland and scrub woodland beside the rivers Leny and Eas Cobhain near Callander in the Trossachs, and adjacent to one of the towns' main car parks. It lies within the likely boundary of the proposed Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, and, as a result, receives thousands of visitors each year. The land, which is owned by Stirling Council, lies on the rivers' flood plain. Recreation opportunities include picnicking, fishing, dog walking, visits to the play park and access to the national cycle path network. It is this combination of scenic beauty, recreational opportunity and sympathetic ownership that makes Callander Meadows an ideal location to put across the message about the importance of biodiversity.

In the summer of 1999, the Stirling Council Countryside Ranger Service drew up plans to increase the biodiversity of the area by creating areas of taller, more species-rich grassland around the edges of the amenity grassland. The proposal was discussed with the Community Council, which asked to revise the plans to encompass around half of the amenity grassland. It was agreed that this larger area could be managed as a meadow, with just one annual cut of the grass at the end of the summer, rather than being mown short five times a year. As well as benefiting biodiversity, the cost of a single annual meadow cut, and baling the resulting mown grass, should work out to be marginally cheaper. As the expense of the amenity cutting was already borne by th council, there is no extra cost involved with the project. In fact, if the cut grass can be sold as hay, the project may even make some money!

Although there were initial fears that the management regime would produce a visually unappealing monoculture of tall grass, the actual result has been a pleasing variety of grasses interspersed with attractive flowers and reactions from the general public and local community have been excellent. Visitors and local people alike have commented appreciatively about the flowers and grasses and the associated insects and butterflies which would not otherwise have been present.

Now that the principal of meadow management has been established successfully, the ranger service intends to produce a comprehensive management plan for the Callander Meadows, including a range of management techniques such as harrowing, grazing and seed-sowing. Community hay-making days are planned, and the possibility of generating income from the sale of hay bales is being investigated, especially if organic status can be achieved for the hay. Educational visits and on-site interpretation are also proposed.

Although Fair Isle, with its long-established bird observatory, is widely recognised as an important haven for birdlife, the development of an LBAP for the island only began in 2000. Community support and involvement was enlisted by: an article in the island newspaper; a slide show in the Community Hall; a workshop at the island's primary school; and informal discussions with crofters in June and July regarding environmentally sensitive agriculture - and, in particular, protection measures for the corncrake.

A programme was devised for the primary school children on the theme of Identifying wildlife values and resources. The results will be used as part of an internet exchange of views and information with schoolchildren of small communities in northern Scandinavia. This project, funded as part of the EU/Norwegian government Northern Periphery Programme, will encourage the children to identify the environmental and cultural values of their areas and to consider how to safeguard them through measures for sustainable management. The results will also be fed back into the LBAP.

Many naturalists have visited Fair Isle over the years and recorded their observations, so the audit which will guide the LBAP is largely a desk-based exercise. However, at an early stage, the islanders decided to seek advice, comments and support from specialists on particular wildlife groups such as flowering plants, fungi, lichens, mosses and liverworts, butterflies and moths, spiders, bugs and various other invertebrate groups.

The frequent discovery of notable plants and animals, and the confirmation of healthy populations of species which are in decline elsewhere, bears witness to the main theme emerging from the Fair Isle project: that extensive, traditionally-based agriculture promotes, maintains and enhances a high quality environment, especially when it is coupled with a community that shows respect for its wildlife, based on sustainable resource management. The production of an LBAP for Fair Isle will help to safeguard all these high quality values.