Photo: Murdo MacLeod/Guardian
Helped by volunteers, Trees for Life planted nearly 2 million native trees on its Scottish projects.
Sometimes a tree has to be cut down because it’s rotting. But if it’s your tree, you can offset the loss for the planet by donating to an organization that plants lots of trees. Planting a lot of trees is important because it takes a long time before a bunch of little trees has the climate-saving benefits of one big tree.
I gave to the the Arbor Day Foundation last year after sadly saying good-bye to an old, old maple. Then the New York Times suggested Eden Reforestration Projects, which sounded excellent. The Times also provided names of organizations working on other climate-saving activities, including the Coalition for Rainforest Nations and a group providing fuel-efficient stoves in Kenya.
Patrick Barkham, reporting for the Guardian from Scotland, shows what can be done with a dedicated group of volunteers.
“The bracken-clad hills are marked ‘Dundreggan forest’ on the map but this Scottish glen is mostly stark Highland scenery: open, beautiful, and almost totally devoid of trees.
“On a steep-sided little gully, 40 years ago, a few baby silver birches escaped relentless browsing by red deer and grew tall. Now, the nearby path through the bracken is dusted with thousands of brown specks: birch seeds.
‘Each year, this “forest” produces trillions of birch seed,’ says Doug Gilbert, the operations manager for the charity Trees for Life at Dundreggan. ‘Until we reduce the deer pressure, not a single one has grown into a tree. Once we get the deer population right, this forest will absolutely take off. It’s starting to do that now.’
“The charity purchased the Dundreggan hunting estate 11 years ago. Slowly – ‘at tree speed,’ smiles Gilbert – it is rewilding 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of this degraded Highland landscape, restoring a diversity of native trees, scrub and associated life, from the dark bordered beauty moth to black grouse and, yes, red deer. …
“During the general election campaign, politicians desperately tried to outbid each other with tree-planting pledges. Who doesn’t love a tree? More trees can tackle the climate crisis – absorbing carbon dioxide – and the biodiversity crisis. But Trees for Life’s efforts reveal it is not quite so simple.
“Since Victorian times, when the sheep estates that followed the Highland clearances were replaced by more lucrative deer hunting estates, the landscape, and economic model, has been shaped by red deer. Around Dundreggan there are also non-native sika and roe deer. …
“The first step at Dundreggan has been to increase deer culling. Ecologists calculate that a red deer population of five per sq km in the wider landscape will allow natural regeneration; in many Highland regions it is 20. But culling deer is controversial because the value of stalking that estates base on deer numbers.
“Trees for Life has proceeded slowly with culling, seeking positive dialogue with neighbouring stalking estates. They’ve also tried non-lethal methods such as bagpipe-playing volunteers acting as nocturnal deer scarers. Trees and deer can coexist and Dundreggan’s deer population is now at a level where some young birches, pines, rowans and junipers will grow tall. …
“All the trees come from Scottish seeds – meaning they are suited to Highland climates and species, as well as being free of novel diseases. Half have been grown from seeds collected around Dundreggan. Its on-site nursery bristles with 94,000 saplings.
“Seed-collecting is not as simple as it sounds. Seed must come from a wide variety of individual trees to ensure genetic diversity. Cones from Scots pines have to be harvested before they drop to the ground, so specialist tree-climbers are employed. Trees for Life specialises in growing non-commercial high-mountain species such as woolly willow and dwarf birch. Surviving specimens are often only found on cliffs and crevices – with seeds or cuttings only retrievable by specialist climbers.
“Because of the deer grazing, every sapling is planted within a fenced enclosure (costing £10 [$12.79] per metre). Fencing is ‘a little bit of an admission of failure,’ says Gilbert. In the long term, when reducing deer numbers becomes less controversial, trees won’t need fences. Gilbert hopes the fences will last 30 years, when the well-established trees and scrub will survive browsing deer.” More.
(By the way, does anyone remember deer stalking in the children’s classic Wee Gillis?)
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Here is another organization working on planting trees, and donating to them does not cost any money. See this article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ecosia-plant-trees-surfing-web-ryan-hagen-1e/
Thank you for adding more to the discussion.
One thing to remember is that trees need water to grow. I have heard of people trying to plant trees in Sarah, Africa, in an effort to return moisture to the region. I think the Move the Water! initiative from Active Climate Rescue Initiative (www.climate-rescue.org) is excellent and when implemented will be able to rehydrate vast desert regions. Then tree planting can begin in earnest and with gusto.
I wrote about Africa here (https://suzannesmomsblog.com/2019/11/22/the-great-wall-of-africa-will-be-green/). As in Scotland, it’s important to protect the trees from animals. And in this case, to provide other food for people’s livestock.
I could not edit my comment to add the YouTube link for my initial comment. https://youtu.be/yYdSg3XEUFg.
So sorry about that old, old tree. Must have felt like losing a beloved friend. Nice to be able to give to an organization that promotes the planting of trees.
Earle writes that he makes bowls out of trees that must be taken down and gives them to the tree owner or environmental organizations. He sent gorgeous photos.
Nice!