Thomas McCulloch receives police escort after mob force him out of home
He completed a course at a nature reserve where he helped create a pathway by clearing trees and shrubs.
The killer also helped carry out a lizard survey.
Prison chiefs even paraded him getting a certificate for the gardening course in a magazine.
McCulloch went on the rampage with gay lover Robert Mone at the State Hospital, Carstairs, in 1976.
Armed with homemade weapons and an axe, they butchered a nurse, a patient and a young policeman.
McCulloch is serving a life term and has been locked up for more than four decades.
But has been allowed home visits and trips out of jail in the last few years.
A source said: "He may be old now but there is evidence he is still a very dangerous man.
"All prisoners going on courses are vetted but I don't think its a good idea to let a murderer like McCulloch near sharp implements such as axes and secateurs - that could be a disaster waiting to happen."
McCulloch was paraded by prison bosses in the pages internal magazine The Gallery, which is distributed to inmates and staff in the Scottish Prison Service.
He features in an article about the course at St Cyrus nature reserve in Aberdeenshire.
There is a photo of him with course leaders and fellow lags.
McCulloch was presented with the John Muir Award after demonstrating he had "discovered a wild place, explored its wilderness, helped to conserve it and shared the experience".
An SPS spokesman refused to comment on individual prisoners but said: "Working in the community is a long-established part of the value of the prison system."
McCulloch was released into the community last year but hounded out of a council house in Dumbarton by angry residents who didn't want him in their midst.
He is now at Noranside Open Prison, Angus.
He used European human rights legislation in 2002 to have his term fixed at 30 years, making his eventual release inevitable.
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