The Trees for Life vision is of a revitalised wild forest in the Scottish Highlands, providing space for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive.
The Trees for Life mission is to rewild the Scottish Highlands by enabling the restoration of the globally unique Caledonian Forest which once covered much of Scotland. Integral to our success is the involvement of people.
Our values are at the core of our mission to rewild the Scottish Highlands, informing decisions large and small from the day-to-day running of our office to major conservation projects. We have shared these values so that our supporters, volunteers and partners can gain a deeper understanding of what drives Trees for Life.
We are groundbreaking- We are an ambitious charity with a big mission. For over 25 years we have sought to bring innovation to conservation, and we continue to strive for new and ground-breaking ways to rewild the Scottish Highlands.
We are collaborative- We are an open, friendly and cooperative organisation. We welcome and encourage collaborative working with other organisations, land owners and the wider community. We believe we can always achieve more through teamwork.
We are pragmatic- We seek prudent, sustainable solutions in everything we do. We are always mindful of our duty to our supporters, our volunteers, our staff and above all to Scotland’s wild forest. Seeking a pragmatic approach safeguards our organisation and the work we undertake.
The proposal is based on the conviction that nature, people and businesses need each other to be sustainable for the long term. These common interests can be the basis of a progressive and shared agenda to strengthen the local economy and enrich lifestyles in communities.
Developing these three interwoven strands – nature, people and business – is the focus of East West Wild. Looking at similar projects from across Europe, a partnership which takes this approach can successfully attract multi-million pound funding to turn shared aspirations into reality
About 6,000 years ago an estimated 1.5m hectares of Scotland was covered in rich native pinewoods. Now only about 1% of this original forest is left, broken down into small and isolated fragments. Much of the wildlife dependent on the forest has been lost.
Many of these fragments of Caledonian Pinewood are not being actively managed in a way which nurtures the native trees and wildlife. Consequently, there are often no young trees growing to replace the much older and often lone ‘Granny pines’ that are characteristic of these remnant areas.
The Caledonian Pinewood Recovery Project aims to save these remnant pinewoods.
Red squirrels help to expand their habitat through burying nuts and seeds. Sadly, despite once being present across most of Great Britain, its numbers have been devastated by habitat loss and the introduction of the non-native grey squirrel. Reds have been lost from most of England and Wales, leaving Scotland as the last remaining stronghold. It holds about 121,000 individuals, ¾ of the UK population; however, this is only a fraction of previous numbers and, sadly, the species is still missing from much of its former range.
Since 2016 Trees for Life has been creating new populations of red squirrels throughout the northwest Highlands – carefully capturing reds from areas where there are healthy numbers and moving them to forests in the northwest that are free from the threat of greys and a devastating disease that they carry, Squirrel pox.
