Action for Aspen Appeal

Please make a donation to support this project now!

Please help us to substantially expand our restoration work for aspen woodland - a key habitat for many species in the Caledonian Forest.

Dear Supporter

For 11 years now, one of the most innovative and pioneering aspects of our work to help restore the Caledonian Forest has been our aspen project. From small beginnings in 1991, we have developed considerable expertise in propagating aspen from root sections, and we've also located and surveyed 212 aspen stands in Glen Affric and nearby areas. In recent years, we've implemented protection measures for some of those existing stands, and have planted young trees we've grown ourselves to establish new aspen sites. Much of what we've accomplished to date has been due to volunteers and supporters such as yourself, who have carried out a lot of the practical work, or made donations, and I'm very grateful for all this help we've received.

Now, we're ready to take a major step forward with our aspen project, to significantly expand our practical work for this rare tree, and all the other life which depends on it. I'm writing to you today to invite you to support us in raising £11,600 for this - to help us give aspen a viable future in the Highlands.

Aspen - a tree whose time for restoration has come in Scotland

Recent research has shown that there is a whole range of insects, lichens, mosses and fungi which are dependent on aspen in Scotland. Some of these are rare and endangered, such as the aspen hoverfly and blunt-leaved bristle moss, whilst others are either new to science, or had not previously been observed in the UK. In addition, aspen is a key winter food for the European beaver, which is the subject of a proposed trial reintroduction to Scotland in 2003.

This importance of aspen for other species was highlighted at a special conference held at Kingussie in May 2001, as was the urgent need for action to protect and restore aspen throughout Scotland. Trees for Life was well-represented at the conference, where our work was commended by many people, and we left it with a strong commitment to build on our success to date. Now we're ready to translate that commitment into action, and, with your help, to play a leading role in the practical work of aspen restoration in the Highlands.

It's time for more Action on Aspen!

So far, our aspen project has been run on a relative shoestring - on a small budget, and in between the many other responsibilities of our field staff. Now, we plan to make this project a key element of our ongoing activities, with a new full-time staff position dedicated to it.

We've been invited by a grant-giving trust to send them a 3 year proposal, which we hope will bring in a large part of the funding needed for this expansion of our aspen project. However, trusts seldom provide the complete funding for any project, so we also need your help! Our target is to raise £11,600 from our members and supporters, so I invite you to act now and send a donation which will enable us to take more Action for Aspen.

Here's the Action for Aspen which your support will help us to achieve:

• We'll survey and map all the existing aspen stands in our Target Area, prioritising these for restoration work and implementing measures such as stock fencing, individual tree protection or larger deer-fenced exclosures to ensure that regeneration is successful in them.

• We'll expand our propagation of aspen at our nursery at Plodda Lodge to 3,500 plants per year, to provide the young trees for establishing new aspen stands.

• We'll organise specialist scientific studies at key aspen sites in our Target Area, and use the results to plan for the recovery of the rare insects, fungi, lichens and mosses associated with aspen trees.

• We'll develop a coherent and visionary strategy for the restoration of aspen in our Target Area and adjoining parts of the Highlands, through measures to link up existing stands and by planting new ones.

• We'll continue to develop our Aspen Information Resource, making it into a comprehensive and central reference point on the World Wide Web for information about aspen in Scotland and beyond.

Please help us to give aspen a viable future in the Highlands!

For this project to be successful, we need to obtain funding for it for at least the next three years, and if our applications to trusts are successful in this regard, it will represent a major step forward for us. However, we are also counting on contributions from our members and supporters such as yourself to help us raise £11,600, which will pay for the costs of propagating 3,500 aspens and erecting 100 stock fences at aspen sites in the next year.

Aspen is a special tree in the Caledonian Forest, and it and the specialised community of life which depends on it need special attention. We're ready to take this next step in our work with aspen - with your help now we can become specialists in the field of aspen restoration in Scotland!

To make a donation online to this project, please go to our order form, and thank you in advance for whatever contribution you can give - your support will help to make all the difference.

Yours sincerely,

Alan Watson Featherstone
Executive Director