Celebrations for the planting of the Millionth Tree by conservation charity Trees for Life in Scotland's Caledonian Forest will be launched in March with a two-month lecture tour across Britain by the charity's founder and executive director, Alan Watson Featherstone.
From Ullapool to Devon, Alan will travel the length and breadth of the country throughout March and April to inform and inspire audiences with The Millionth Tree lecture tour. Trees for Life will plant its Millionth Tree in May.
Alan said: “The lectures will be a celebration, and a positive and inspiring call to action. The story of Trees for Life’s work to help restore the Caledonian Forest in the Highlands is one of overcoming great challenges, and shows how passion, belief and a positive vision can make a tremendous difference to our planet and to people too.
“The planting of our Millionth Tree will be a major milestone in a 250-year project – that’s how long it will take for mature trees to return to areas where there are none today. The tour is also aimed to galvanise further support for the next stage of our work and the planting of our next million trees.”
The lectures will feature stunning photographs of the Caledonian Forest and its species. Dramatic before and after images will show the changes that have taken place as the ancient forest returns. They will also illustrate the significant positive effects that volunteers can achieve in helping to reverse forest loss – one of the critical environmental problems of our time.
Trees for Life’s remarkable story began at an environmental conference in Findhorn in October 1986 when Alan Watson Featherstone – who at that time had no experience of conservation work, no funding and no access to land – made a commitment to delegates to launch a project to restore the Caledonian Forest.
The forest had once covered much of the Highlands, with native pinewoods encompassing 1.5 million hectares at their maximum extent, in a wild landscape of mountains, lochs and rivers. By the 1980s, centuries of deforestation – largely a result of human activity such as land clearance, wood use and farming – had taken a huge toll, with only a tiny percentage of the former forest remaining.
Practical conservation work began in June 1989, when Alan took a team of volunteers to place tree guards around Scots pine seedlings in Glen Cannich, to protect them from being eaten by deer. By 1991, Trees for Life had begun to plant a new generation of trees, some of the first to grow in the Caledonian Forest for 150 years.
Trees for Life – whose vision also includes the reintroduction of the forest’s wildlife and plants, to form a fully-functioning ecosystem – has since grown into an award-winning charity, with a dedicated staff team, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of supporters. In 2008, it bought the 10,000-acre Dundreggan Estate west of Loch Ness, one of the largest areas of land in the UK ever purchased for forest restoration.
People can help Trees for Life to plant its next million trees by purchasing dedicated trees and groves. The charity’s acclaimed volunteer Conservation Holiday weeks offer the opportunity to gain practical conservation experience in spectacular surroundings in the Highlands. For further details of the lecture tour see the Trees for Life website.