Tree planting marks 50 years of John Muir Country Park
A commemorative tree planting took place at John Muir Country Park to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding.
The 1763-acre site, which lies near Dunbar and West Barns and stretches across eight miles of coastline, was designated as a Country Park in October 1976.
The park was named in honour of John Muir, the naturalist and conservation pioneer, who was born in Dunbar in 1838 before emigrating to the United States.
Managed by us under an agreement with the landowners, the park is famed for its rich biodiversity and sweeping landscape.
Countryside Rangers were joined by Councillor Colin McGinn and members of the John Muir Advisory Groups for last month’s commemoration event. Representatives from NatureScot, Wild About West Barns, Sustaining Dunbar, the East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists’ Society, the community councils of Dunbar, West Barns and Dunpender, and other volunteers helped plant three silver birches and two Monterey pines, a tree to represent each decade of the park’s history.
John Muir Country Park is also designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Area (SPA) and a Ramsar site for its biological, geological and coastal significance.
It is renowned for its array of habitats which include saltmarshes, mudflats, sand dunes, woodlands, scrub, permanent grassland, and both rocky and sandy shorelines.
The park plays home to an abundance of bird life including greenshanks, whimbrels, little tern, kittiwakes, skylarks, lapwings, ringed plovers and gannets. In addition, a variety of insects and other wildlife are supported there while around 400 plant species have been recorded.
John Muir Country Park was registered by the Countryside Commission for Scotland as a Country Park on 12 October 1976 to afford the public’s “enjoyment of the countryside or open-air recreation” under the Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967.
Key location
The park is a key location along the John Muir Way, the long-distance walk between Dunbar and Helensburgh.
John Muir was a naturalist, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist and glaciologist who became one of the earliest and most influential advocates for wilderness conservation in the US. Before his death in 1914, his writings and campaigns helped shape the modern conservation movement and played a key part in the creation of several national parks, including Yosemite.
John Muir’s Birthplace museum on Dunbar’s High Street is hosting a new exhibition of photographs to celebrate the park’s anniversary along with reflections from staff, volunteers and Junior Rangers. The free exhibition, which will run until 10 January 2027, is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday between 1pm and 5pm. Find out more about this and other museum events in this month's What's On.