Aspen Project

Trees for Life initiated an aspen project in 1991 as part of our work to help restore the Caledonian Forest in Glen Affric and the surrounding areas. Our observations had shown that the species only occurred in small stands, often widely separated from each other, and that little regeneration was taking place, because of grazing pressure, primarily by red deer. In addition, in the light of aspen's relatively poor ability to reproduce from seed (Worrell, 1995a, b), we recognised that, unlike other tree species such as birch, rowan etc., it was very unlikely to spread beyond the sites where it was already established.

To address these concerns, our aspen project has four main elements to it: surveying and mapping of existing stands; protection of ramets or suckers at existing stands to facilitate natural regeneration; propagation and planting of young aspens; and research into the ecology of aspen.

We are very grateful for the generous ongoing support of Adam Whitmore for our Aspen Project.

More...

The Trees for Life Aspen Project

• Aspen Project home page
• The Aspen Project - a short video clip about our aspen project (7.5 mb)
• The Trees for Life Aspen Project
  Paper by Alan Watson Featherstone published in 'The Biodiversity and Management of Aspen Woodlands' - proceedings of a one-day conference held in Kingussie, Scotland, on 25th May 2001
• Aspen Regeneration at Dundreggan
• Aspen Project Update from our Winter 2009-10 magazine
• Aspen Project Update from our Summer 2008 magazine
• Aspen Project Update from our Summer 2007 magazine
• Aspen Project Update from our Spring 2006 magazine
• Aspen aflutter with new energy! from our Summer 2005 magazine
• Trembling in the Glens from our Winter 2003-04 magazine

Pages about Aspen on this site

• Aspen Species Profile
• Aspen project and information resource
• The Propagation of Aspen from Root Cuttings
• Beavers and Aspen: looking to the future Paper by Dan Puplett from the proceedings of a conference, 'Aspen in Scotland: biodiversity and management', held in Boat of Garten, Scotland, on 3rd-4th October 2008
• Aspen - Boreal Symbol
• Galls on Aspen - A first look
• The Malloch Society survey of Glen Affric, Glen Cannich and Corrimony in May 2001
• Scientific References to Aspen
• The Mythology and Folklore of Aspen
• Links to other sites containing information about Aspen

Aspen Information Resource

Information about aspen in Scotland.

• Aspen in Scotland: biodiversity and management. Proceedings of a Conference held in Boat of Garten, October 2008 (PDF, 4.4mb)
• The Biodiversity and Management of Aspen Woodlands
  Proceedings of a one-day conference held in Kingussie, Scotland, on 25th May 2001
• The Entomological Value of Aspen in the Scottish Highlands
• Local Biodiversity Action Plan for the Aspen Hoverfly
  (Hammerschmidtia ferruginea)
• Aspen Species Action Plan for South Lanarkshire
• The Lichen Ecology of Aspen Woods - A Preliminary Analysis
• Research on Aspen in Scotland
• Research on Aspen in other countries
• The Trees for Life Aspen Project

Published: 13 November 2006
Last updated: 05 July 2012