Dick Balharry

In 1954, after a year of technical college and an hour in a factory in Dundee, he landed a job as kennel boy and under keeper on an estate near Tighnabruaich, Argyll.

[citation needed] In November 1952, Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve was declared and Jimmy Polson, an experienced deer stalker, was appointed as keeper.

In May 1991, Tam Dalyell and his wife spent a day in the Caledonian Pinewoods of Mar Lodge Estate in the company of Balharry (while senior warden of the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland), Adam Watson (while at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Banchory), and Dave Morris of the Ramblers Association.

On 18 April 2015 Balharry was awarded the Royal Scottish Geographical Society's Geddes Environment medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to conservation.

[8][9] In October 2004, at the Sustaining Wild Land Conference in Pitlochry, Balharry presented Adam Watson with the Trust's Lifetime Achievement Award.

[13] He took an active role in representing Ramblers Scotland on a number of issues including: ensuring the ethos of access legislation was upheld; fighting intrusions to wild land from inappropriate developments; and supporting the sound ecological management of upland areas.