Muriel Gray plants half millionth tree in Caledonian Forest restoration project
Press Releases
14 June 2005 - for immediate release
Journalist, presenter and best-selling writer Muriel Gray will today join award-winning Scottish conservation charity Trees for Life, pioneers in the field of ecological restoration, to celebrate the milestone planting of its half-millionth tree in Glen Affric in the Highlands.
With only 1% of the original Caledonian Forest remaining in Scotland, Trees for Life is dedicated to restoring the forest to an area of 1,500 square kilometres in the Highlands west of Inverness. Trees for Life's first trees took root in 1991 in Glen Affric, and appropriately this half-millionth tree will also now be planted there by Muriel Gray, in Scotland's newest National Nature Reserve, managed by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS).
Trees for Life volunteers and supporters will attend this special event at 3:30pm, which will be heralded by the evocative sounds of the Highland bagpipes in the glen, in the presence of senior staff from Forestry Commission Scotland, and followed in the evening by a celebratory fundraising benefit dinner in Inverness, also attended by Muriel Gray.
Speaking from her office in Glasgow, Muriel Gray said, "I'm delighted to be joining Trees for Life for this special event, planting this half-millionth tree. The restoration of the Caledonian Forest is a vision that inspires me and I'm honoured to play a part."
Trees for Life's Founder and Executive Director, Alan Watson Featherstone said "Forest restoration is now a pressing global need, both locally here in Scotland and in places such as the Amazon, to create a viable future for humanity and all other species. Each of the half million trees we've planted provides a habitat for birds, insects and other plants, and they are part of a renewed Caledonian Forest which will be enjoyed by future generations of people in the decades and centuries ahead."
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
Trees for Life has won a number of awards for its conservation work to help restore the Caledonian Forest. In 1991 it was declared the UK Conservation Project of the Year, and in 2000 it received the Millennium Marque award for 'demonstrating environmental excellence for the 21st century'. In addition, Trees for Life Founder and Executive Director Alan Watson Featherstone received the prestigious Schumacher Award in 2001 for 'his inspirational and practical work on conserving and restoring degraded ecosystems'.
Trees for Life works in partnership with Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, the RSPB, National Trust for Scotland and private landowners and local people.
In conjunction with in-depth research and woodland surveys, since 1991 Trees for Life's staff and thousands of volunteers have been planting trees by hand, removing non-native trees, as well as carrying out other essential forest restoration work, including the removal of fences, wetland restoration, and habitat surveying and monitoring.
The majority of Trees for Life's work is carried out by volunteers, instructed and led by trained staff. Many of the volunteers have had no experience of tree planting or conservation work before, and in some ways this is the power of Trees for Life's work, as it inspires people from all ages and all walks of life to take positive, empowered action in a world that is so often short of hope, and practical ecological solutions.
Glen Affric was designated as a National Nature Reserve in 2001, and covers 14,536 hectares, taking in the sister glens of Cougie, Cannich and Guisachan. The contiguous pinewoods form the largest relict of indigenous Scots pine woodlands least affected by the hand of humanity in the whole of the United Kingdom. This claim is made as a result of comparing the size of the woodlands against the only larger pinewoods in Speyside and the fact that Glen Affric has seen much less exploitation and management over the centuries. In 2003, the area won the John Kennedy trophy in the Scottish Finest Woodlands Awards, presented by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland.
For further details, please contact:
David Hammond, Development & Marketing Manager, Trees for Life
Tel: 01309 691292 - Fax: 01309 691155 - Email: trees@findhorn.org - Website: www.treesforlife.org.uk
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