The origins of rewilding
2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Trees for Life as a charity but its roots go back much further. I first visited Glen Affric in 1979, not long after I had joined the Findhorn Foundation community, a world-famous spiritual organisation based on the principle that nature has intelligence, consciousness and purpose, and that by connecting deeply with the natural world, it is possible to nourish all life and produce remarkable results.
I was profoundly touched by Glen Affric. It reminded me of intact forests I had visited in western Canada and South America, and I began making regular journeys to experience the Caledonian forest there. I soon noticed, however, that all was not well. The forest consisted almost entirely of old trees nearing the end of their lives with no regeneration, as every new seedling got eaten by red deer. I realised that the forest would die if nothing was done. A feeling kept growing in me that the old trees were silently calling out for help.
In 1986, I organised a major weeklong conference for 240 people at Findhorn where anyone was invited to make a public commitment to positive action for the planet. My commitment was to launch a project to restore the Caledonian forest - and so Trees for Life was born. During the period that followed, I had to educate myself about what could be done, raise funds, and make contact with landowners in Glen Affric. I visited the glen with Finlay MacRae, the forester there in the early 1960s who had fenced part of the old forest to keep deer out, and where a new generation of young pines was growing successfully as a result.
The breakthrough at Affric came in 1989 when we reached an agreement with the Forestry Commission to fence off 125 acres at Coille Ruigh na Cuileige. Thanks to the research of a student, we knew there were 100,000 pine seedlings in Coille Ruigh - but despite being 10 years old, they were only 8.5 cm tall, a fraction of what they should have been at that stage in life. This was stark evidence of how seriously deer grazing pressure was impacting the forest’s ability to regenerate - and the need for intervention. The fence around Coille Ruigh was erected in 1990 and gained considerable publicity thanks to the involvement of the late David Bellamy, then the most prominent environmentalist in the UK.
In the following years, we fenced off more areas of Glen Affric and launched volunteer weeks in 1991, planting several thousand Scots pines. Our work expanded into West Affric where we fenced off ten new sites in collaboration with the National Trust for Scotland. Our biggest aim, however, was to purchase land. Only by owning land could we gain control over deer numbers to support regeneration. It was this intention to purchase land that led to the incorporation of Trees for Life as an independent charity in 1993. Later that year, we raised funds to buy the Wester Guisachan Estate to the south of Affric, but sadly were outbid.
Trees for Life continued to grow and in 1996 we purchased Plodda Lodge near Tomich, where we set up our own tree nursery and based more volunteer weeks. We initiated a major project for aspen, one of Scotland’s rarer trees, and were a founding member of the Montane Scrub Action Group, which still works today to support the return of the dwarf shrub community at the treeline.
A major change came when we were finally successful in purchasing land in 2008, when we bought the 10,000 acre Dundreggan estate in Glenmoriston. That was a major achievement and turning point, as it meant we were able to implement our vision for a healthy restored forest on a large scale. We moved the tree nursery to Dundreggan when we sold Plodda Lodge in 2011, planting our millionth tree with the help of Gordon Buchanan in 2012.