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| Formation | 1993 [1] |
|---|---|
| Type | Conservation charity |
| Location |
|
Area served | Scottish Highlands |
Revenue | £4,162,000 (2023) |
| Website | https://treesforlife.org.uk/ |
Trees for Life is a registered charity working to rewild the Scottish Highlands. The organization was founded in 1986 by Alan Watson Featherstone.
Trees for Life was founded in 1986 by Alan Watson Featherstone, as a project under the Findhorn Foundation. Practical work began in 1989, and the first volunteer week was held in 1991. Trees for Life was registered as an independent charity in 1993.
Trees for Life works to restore the Caledonian Forest, especially in Glen Affric where one of the most important fragments of Caledonian Forest survived. [2] In August 2008 Trees for Life purchased the 10,000 acre Dundreggan Estate in Glenmoriston, in the Scottish Highlands – one of the largest areas of land in the UK to be bought for forest restoration. [3] Trees for Life states that its long-term plan will see Dundreggan restored to a wild landscape of diverse natural forest cover, with the return of native wildlife. In 2020, golden eagles, a spectacular bird of prey, returned to breed at the estate for the first time in 40 years. [4]
The charity established the Dundreggan Rewilding Centre, the first of its kind in the world, and opened in April 2023 at the Dundreggan Estate. [5]
Initial work took place in Glen Cannich, but they have also supported woodland creation in Glen Affric, where they operate in partnership with Forestry and Land Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland. Since the early days, work expanded into other nearby glens, such as Glenmoriston, to the south of Glen Affric, at Achnashellach, and at Corrimony, where they worked in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.[ citation needed ]
Affric Highlands [6] is a 30-year collaborative initiative by Trees for Life and Rewilding Europe who are working to restore woodland, peatland and riverside habitats in the Scottish Highlands. Rewilding supports nature, climate and people by boosting biodiversity, creating jobs, and supporting re-peopling. In June 2022, Affric Highlands was recommended for UN flagship status by the Scottish and UK governments. [7]
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972.
Drumnadrochit is a village in the Highland local government council area of Scotland, lying near the west shore of Loch Ness at the foot of Glen Urquhart. The village is close to several neighbouring settlements: the villages of Milton to the west, Kilmore to the east and Lewiston to the south. The villages act as a centre for regional tourism beside Loch Ness, as well as being a local economic hub for the nearby communities.
The Caledonian Forest is the ancient (old-growth) temperate forest of Scotland. The forest today is a reduced-extent version of the pre-human-settlement forest, existing in several dozen remnant areas.
Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth, also known as the Laird of Guisachan and Glenaffric, was a Scottish businessman and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1853 until 1880, when he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Tweedmouth. He was the breeder of the first golden retriever.
The John Muir Trust (JMT) is a Scottish charity, established in 1983 to conserve wild land and wild places for the benefit of all. The Trust runs an environmental award scheme, manages several estates, mainly in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and campaigns for better protection of wild land. In 2017, it took on a lease to manage Glenridding Common in the English Lake District.
Glen Affric is a glen south-west of the village of Cannich in the Highland region of Scotland, some 15 miles west of Loch Ness. The River Affric runs along its length, passing through Loch Affric and Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. A minor public road reaches as far as the end of Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin, but beyond that point only rough tracks and footpaths continue along the glen.
The Northwest Highlands are located in the northern third of Scotland that is separated from the Grampian Mountains by the Great Glen. The region comprises Wester Ross, Assynt, Sutherland and part of Caithness. The Caledonian Canal, which extends from Loch Linnhe in the south-west, via Loch Ness to the Moray Firth in the north-east splits this area from the rest of the country. The city of Inverness and the town of Fort William serve as gateways to the region from the south.
Mam Sodhail, or Màm Sabhail in Gaelic, sometimes anglicised "Mam Soul", is a mountain with a height of 1,181 metres (3,875 ft) in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. Classed as a Munro, it is beside Carn Eige in the secluded country on the northern side of Glen Affric, some 30 kilometres east of Kyle of Lochalsh.
The deer forest is a sporting estate which is kept and managed largely or solely for the purposes of maintaining a resident population of red deer for sporting purposes. It is an institution and phenomenon peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland.
Glen Strathfarrar is a glen in the Highland region of Scotland, near Loch Ness.
Glenmoriston or Glen Moriston is a river glen in the Scottish Highlands, that runs from Loch Ness, at the village of Invermoriston, westwards to Loch Cluanie, where it meets with Glen Shiel. The A887 and A87 roads pass through Glenmoriston.
Borgie is a hamlet in Sutherland, Highland, Scotland. Historically it was part of the 12,600-acre (5,100-hectare) Tongue estate with shooting rights, and it contains the Borgie Lodge, now a bed and breakfast. Borgie is noted for its salmon, which are caught in the nearby River Borgie.
The flora of Scotland is an assemblage of native plant species including over 1,600 vascular plants, more than 1,500 lichens and nearly 1,000 bryophytes. The total number of vascular species is low by world standards but lichens and bryophytes are abundant and the latter form a population of global importance. Various populations of rare fern exist, although the impact of 19th-century collectors threatened the existence of several species. The flora is generally typical of the north-west European part of the Palearctic realm and prominent features of the Scottish flora include boreal Caledonian forest, heather moorland and coastal machair. In addition to the native species of vascular plants there are numerous non-native introductions, now believed to make up some 43% of the species in the country.
Scotland is ideal for tree growth, thanks to its mild winters, plentiful rainfall, fertile soil and hill-sheltered topography. As of 2019 about 18.5% of the country was wooded. Although this figure is well below the European Union (EU) average of 43%, it represents a significant increase compared to the figure of 100 years previously: in 1919 it was estimated that only 5% of the country's total land area was covered in forest. The Scottish Government's Draft Climate Change Plan has set an aim of increasing coverage to 21% of Scotland by 2032, with the rate of afforestation rising to 15,000 hectares per year by 2024.
Spencer George Matthews is a British television personality and entrepreneur, known for his appearances on Made in Chelsea. He has also appeared on other television shows such as Celebrity MasterChef and The Jump. He is the founder and CBO of CleanCo non-alcoholic spirits. In 2024, Matthews became a Guinness World Records holder, when he completed thirty marathons in thirty days, for charity.
Alan Watson Featherstone is a Scottish ecologist. He is a natural history photographer, speaker and the founder of the conservation charity Trees for Life.
Rewilding Britain is an organisation founded in 2015 that aims to promote the rewilding of Great Britain. It is a registered charity in England, Wales and Scotland.
The Last Ent of Affric is an ancient elm in the Scottish Highlands, designated a Tree of National Special Interest (TNSI) by the Woodland Trust and named Scotland's Tree of the Year in 2019. It is probably the last surviving tree of an ancient forest, and by virtue of its isolation has remained safe from Dutch elm disease.
Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin is a freshwater loch in Inverness-shire, Scotland. It is one of several lochs in Glen Affric, a National Nature Reserve within Scotland's Caledonian Forest.
