Caledonia Wild! Winter 2000
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Trees for Life magazine, Caledonia Wild! Winter 2000-01 |
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The Turning of the Tide
The turning of the tide in Glen Affric - young trees growing amongst the skeletons of the dying forest. |
In the first days of January 2000, a sobering event of global importance took place, largely unnoticed by the media and public, much of which was still recovering from the 'world's largest party' at the New Year: in Spain's Ordesa National Park the last surviving Pyrenees mountain goat was killed by a falling tree.
Thus, the 21st century began where the 20th left off, with another species becoming extinct.
According to the best estimates, the rate of species extinctions is now about 150 per day.
Virtually all of these are invertebrates in the tropical rainforests, and have never been described or studied by scientists. Thus, when a documented extinction, such as that of the Pyrenees mountain goat, occurs, it is just the tip of the iceberg of what is actually happening.
This gloomy start to the new millennium was compounded in September, when another mammal extinction was reported - that of Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey in West Africa. This was particularly significant because it was the first extinction of a primate, the family of animals which are humanity's nearest biological relatives, to have occurred in 200 years.
With these losses, and the devastation of forests and other habitats, continuing apace on every continent, I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the wave of destruction which is flowing around the world today. Despite the good work which we do at Trees for Life, I still feel, on occasions, as helpless as King Canute in attempting to halt the seemingly irresistible tidal onslaught of humanity's impact on the planet. But whereas that fabled monarch couldn't do anything to stop the incoming tide, we do have the ability to make our relationship with the planet a positive one, rather than a destructive one.
In the past year I've been inspired to see examples of this first hand, through visits to restoration projects here in Scotland, at Carrifran and Creag Meagaidh, and in Costa Rica, while I also met many restoration practitioners from various countries at a major conference in Liverpool in September. Through these contacts, I've gained inner strength and support, and the knowledge that many, many people elsewhere are engaged in similar work to reverse the seemingly unstoppable forces of environmental destruction. It may be too late for the Pyrenees mountain goat and Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey, but the efforts of restorationists are helping to ensure that many other species will have a viable future.
During my years of working with Trees for Life, I've developed a deep understanding that I have the power within myself to make a real and positive difference in helping to change humanity's relationship with the rest of Nature. I believe that same power is within all of us, and one of my hopes is that everyone who comes into contact with Trees for Life will discover more of their own personal power to make a difference. When each of us does that, we contribute to a sea change in overall human consciousness and action.
There's a simple chant sung here at Findhorn which summarises this very simply and poetically:
We are the power in everyone
We are the dance of the moon and the sun
We are the hope that will never die
We are the turning of the tide
Alan Watson Featherstone
Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness...
Fantastic Forest Revisited
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Originally produced in 1995, our education pack, The Fantastic Forest, has been reprinted in a new revised edition and is now available for use in schools. It contains a great story, which now features a beaver as well as a wolf and bear, and also includes activity sheets, and is suitable for ages 6 - 11. Please contact Jennie at the TFL office for your copy of the pack or for further information. Heart-felt thanks to Ann Scott for her initial inspiration and huge talent in devising, and now updating, the education pack. |
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News from the Tree Nursery
Christina Otto beside a bed full of hazel seedlings in our nursery at Plodda Lodge. (Photo: Clare Cummings) |
Fallen leaves star the moss. The nights are drawing in, and autumn is definitely here. It's a time for reflection. Almost overnight the aspen roots have stopped producing new suckers and the existing suckers are gently slowing their processes down. It's time for clearing out and slowing down.
It has been a wonderful summer living here in the middle of the forest, sharing lunch with the birds as they dart about in the compost bins (which is home to 17 slow worms!), and hearing the continuous call of the buzzard circling overhead.
It's been a long and wondrous process of watching green leaves slowly appear, unfold and spread out in the sun before turning golden and falling off these past weeks. It has also been very healing and wholesome spending time with the river, watching it tumble over the rocks, and gradually dwindle to a shallow, fordable stream throughout the summer. It's now a surging mass of swift flowing, unpassable water!
The summer is full of memories of people helping: getting the water butts working and filling the bowser; building the cold frame and the compost bins; making benches for the polytunnel and more aspen boxes; weeding, watering and planting; and a myriad other things. We have had both dry and rainy spells, with enough sun to keep us happy and enough rain for the trees. We shared the dusk with hooting owls and roe deer who slip silently out of the woods, pause and then gracefully disappear. Our local pine marten comes sniffing around the wood shed late at night and we occasionally see red squirrels jumping from tree to tree. The pond is full of newts, and frogs and toads abound.
The borehole has made a big difference to our lives - many thanks to everyone who contributed to our appeal for funds for this. Throughout the summer we had to conserve water, which meant very few baths and washing days. Now, even with 12 extra people every week we have enough for everything. The borehole was 'dug' in August when the drill had to go 180 feet down to reach the water supply. The environmental health officer pronounced the water pure and the pump man reckoned we have enough water from it (around 50 gallons per minute) to fill our present holding tank up every 4 days. A pump switches on automatically when the water level is low, it is noiseless but our electricity bill has gone up! We didn't run out of water in the nursery this year but I intend to get an outdoor tap installed as it was sometimes hard work lugging watering cans around.
Now the busy times are over, slowly the plants are dying and bare spaces begin to appear. I have plans to rearrange the flowers, create a cottage border, get a solar fountain for our pond and maybe make a little pond in the polytunnel.
A very big thank you to all who helped in the tree nursery. It has been quite an experience to see how much a group of people can do, but most of all I am touched by the willingness, interest and enthusiasm everyone has shown. I am especially grateful to Christina, our long term volunteer, who has been a willing and steady, reliable helper, enjoying the peace and quiet, and managing to laugh (and scream!) at the midges.
A few facts and figures about the tree nursery:
Aspen
We took almost 1,800 aspen suckers from parent roots. We had a 44% survival rate in June but we quickly got better and by August our survival rate was as high as 80%, so we will have about 1,100 aspen to plant out next year, mostly from Glen Affric, but also including 100 from Strath Bran. The two of us were working at full stretch to produce this number, but if we can maintain the high survival rate we have a chance to produce double the amount next year.
Juniper and holly
So far I have collected and planted around 100 juniper and 30 holly cuttings from Glac Daraich and Coille Ruigh, and I have plans to collect more from Am Meallan and Glen Strathfarrar. I have treated some with rooting hormone and left some without; some are growing in the polytunnel and some in the cold frame, so we will see how they all grow. If anyone can remember any sightings of juniper or holly anywhere in Glen Affric I would welcome the information, as it's a big area to search! And thanks to all of you who gave me advice on how to propagate them.
Other tree species
Bird cherry seeds have been collected from Plodda, Dog Falls and Corrimony. In total we have around 1,000 nuts being stratified. It has taken a lot of time (around 2 days) to clean them thoroughly so thanks again to all who helped.
Rosehips from dog rose have been collected from Badger Falls and other locations in Glen Affric, and I've collected berries from hawthorns in hedges near Beauly. I'm not sure if this is native in the glens but there is a tree in Cannich and one just outside Tomich, so I'm just curious to see how they grow.
Many thanks to the group of volunteers who came out with me, even though they were soaking wet, and helped collect around 200 hazelnuts from Badger Falls.
Other species I hope to grow though we haven't collected the seeds yet include oak (the acorns are small this year), alder and dwarf birch. I am also interested in wych elm, and I hope to gather some seed next year. Again, I am not sure if it is native in the high glens but it does grow lower down.
Clare Cummings
Beaver News
 European beaver. |
Scottish Natural Heritage has recently announced that Forest Enterprise land at Knapdale in Argyll has been selected as the proposed site of the initial trial beaver reintroduction. Local public opinion is currently being sought on this, and assuming that it is favourable, plans will be developed for the release of 12 beavers, which will be brought over from Norway. The release itself is likely to take place in 2002, after the animals have spent 6 months in quarantine. The beavers will be closely observed and monitored for 5 years, to evaluate how well they adapt to the Knapdale environment, and to determine what effects they have on the aquatic and riparian ecosystems there. If, after the 5 year period, the trial release is deemed to be successful, further beaver reintroductions may take place elsewhere in Scotland.
As regular readers of Caledonia Wild! know, we strongly support the proposed reintroduction of beavers to Scotland, and we warmly welcome this news, which brings their return one step nearer.
Loch Beinn a'Mheadhoin in Glen Affric is one of a number of other sites which have been looked at for their suitability as beaver habitat, but no consideration is being given to reintroducing beavers there at this time. As aspen is a key winter food for beavers, we are planning to expand our aspen programme to include measures to promote the regeneration of this species at its existing locations on the shores of Loch Beinn a'Mheadhoin. Together with the possible establishment of some new aspen stands in the area, this should help to ensure that there will be adequate habitat for beavers, so that a reintroduction would be possible at some stage in the future.
See Caledonia Wild! magazines, for excerpts from other editions.
Published: Winter 2000-2001
Last updated: 25 August 2010