A new festival is to celebrate John Muir, an icon of worldwide conservation, in the land of his birth.
The John Muir Festival will take place between April 17 and 26 next year, and includes the official opening of the extended John Muir Way long distance walking route.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), in partnership with Creative Scotland and Homecoming Scotland, are supporting the festival.
SNH has appointed UZ Arts, billed as specialists in staging thought-provoking outdoor art work that captures the public imagination, to programme the week.
UZ Arts will be commissioning "national and internationally renowned artists" for a programme designed not only to generate local community interest along the length of the trail, but also to raise awareness of the new national John Muir Way outside Scotland.
From Dunbar, the route mainly follows the existing John Muir Way as far as Musselburgh and then heads towards Helensburgh, with a total length of 130 miles. The existing route to Edinburgh will be renamed.
Tourism minister Fergus Ewing said: "Given it is the centennial year of his death, it is a fitting tribute that the John Muir Festival and opening of the John Muir Way will take place in 2014.
"The festival is a signature event within the Homecoming 2014 programme and will celebrate not only the life, legacy and outstanding contribution that Scottish born John Muir made to the conservation movement across the world, but will also provide the platform for celebrating the natural beauty that is Scotland."
Ian Jardine, SNH's chief executive, said Muir dedicated his life to exploring and protecting wild places and was the founding father of national parks.
"We hope it will inspire people to explore and enjoy nature and landscape right across the country, taking in one of our own national parks - Loch Lomond and the Trossachs," he said.
Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland, said: "The John Muir Festival is a fitting legacy to a great Scot.
John Muir's enthusiasm for the natural world is still very much alive and it's only right we should honour this great man in 2014, on the 100th anniversary of his death."
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