Trees for Life (Scotland)

Infobox Company
company_name = Trees for Life
company_
company_type = Conservation charity
foundation = 1981
location = The Park, Findhorn Bay, Forres, Scotland, United Kingdom
key_people = Hayley Mills,Muriel Gray, patrons Alan Watson Featherstone, executive director
area_served = Scotland , Scottish Highlands
operating_income = £ 204,548 GBP (2006) [http://www.oscr.org.uk/CharityIndexDetails.aspx?id=21303 Extract from the Scottish Charity Register] , 2006/7 annual return. Retrieved 20 March 2007.]
num_employees = 14 paid staff
company_slogan = Restoring the Caledonian Forest
homepage = http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/

Trees for Life (Scotland) is a registered charity formed in 1981 by Alan Watson Featherstone, as a direct result of the inspiration and example of Richard St. Barbe Baker, the 'Man of the Trees'. Originally formed as part of the Findhorn Foundation they now operate as an independent charity, though their offices are still based within the Findhorn Park, and they continue to maintain strong links with the community.

The main focus of their work is a major project to assist the natural regeneration of the Caledonian Forest, which once covered a large area of the Highlands of Scotland as extensive stands of majestic Scots pine, interspersed with birch, rowan, juniper and aspen trees, and is now reduced to just 1% of its former extent. Their long term goal is to restore the Caledonian Forest to an area of 600 square miles in the north-central Scottish Highlands, and to reintroduce the missing species of wildlife, such as the European beaver, wild boar, Eurasian lynx and Eurasian wolf which formerly lived in the forest.

Practical work on the project began in 1989 and since then they have planted over 650,000 native trees and have protected numerous areas with fenced exclosures so that natural regeneration of the trees can take place in the absence of overgrazing by animals such as Red deer.

Initial work took place in Glen Cannich, but the majority of their activities to date have been in Glen Affric, where they operate in partnership with both the Forestry Commission and the National Trust for Scotland. In more recent years, work has expanded into other nearby glens, such as Glen Moriston, to the south of Glen Affric, at Achnashellach in the northwest of the 600 square mile target area, and at Corrimony, where they work in partnership with The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Volunteer Work Weeks

Most of Trees For Life’s practical work is carried out by volunteers, through their programme of volunteer work weeks, providing opportunities for people to get involved and support their efforts. Held each spring and autumn the weeks are run by a pair of trained leaders or ‘Focalisers’ and include work such as native tree planting, non-native species removal, fencing and the removal of redundant stock fences.

In 1996 Trees for Life purchased Plodda Lodge, near the village of Tomich, just outside Glen Affric, and within their 600 square mile target area. This large house is located in a quiet secluded area surrounded by trees, and was built in the 1850s as a laundry for the Guisachan Estate. Its remote location in the forest makes it ideally suited for use as a field base for the charity’s increasing practical work in the area.

Plodda Lodge is now run as a tree nursery, propagating trees from seeds and cuttings collected by Trees for Life staff and volunteers, with an emphasis on growing some of the rarer and/or less easily available tree species native to the Caledonian Forest such as eared willow, hazel and juniper.

A percentage of the volunteer work weeks groups are based at Plodda each year, where they help with work in the nursery, as well as carrying out restoration work in the Caledonian Forest in nearby areas such as Glen Affric and Corrimony.

Their work also has an international dimension with the Restoring the Earth project, which promotes the restoration of the world's degraded ecosystems as the most important task facing humanity in the coming decades.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/ Trees for Life]
* [http://www.restore-earth.org/ Restoring the Earth]