Dundreggan Purchase Appeal
Dear Supporter
I'm writing to you today to ask for your support for Trees for Life's most exciting and ambitious project ever - the purchase of a 4,000 hectare (10,000 acre) estate for forest restoration!
Just imagine, for a moment, an area of ancient Caledonian Forest, with majestic Scots pines growing with birches and other trees such as rowan, aspen, willows and hazel. In amongst the trees are countless junipers, some of them over 5 metres tall, their stems festooned with moss and lichen. Wood ant nests are abundant in the forest, and on the open land beyond, dwarf birch is extensive. Remnant trees are scattered throughout much of the landscape, indicating the possibilty for restoring the forest on a substantial scale. It sounds perfect for our work ... and it's not just imagination. Such a place does indeed exist - the Dundreggan Estate in Glen Moriston, on the southern edge of our target area for forest restoration.
Dundreggan - an ideal site for restoration
Dundreggan contains 100 hectares (250 acres) of ancient native forest, including some of the best examples of large junipers in Scotland, several stands of aspen trees (one of which is host to the rare aspen bracket fungus, Phellinus tremulae) and trees which are scarce in the Caledonian Forest, such as oak, ash and bird cherry. Much of the open ground is suitable for trees, and remnant birches and pines occur for a long way up the main watercourses, providing seed sources for the natural regeneration of the forest. We've already done some work on the estate - in 2002 we fenced an area of 5 hectares for dwarf birch recovery, and in 2005 we planted 10,000 native trees in an existing forest regeneration scheme. Now, we have an exceptional opportunity to purchase the estate and bring all the elements of our restoration work together as an integrated, cohesive whole, to restore the wild forest there.
Please support our most ambitious project!
We've had the estate valued at £1.6 million and thanks to several inspired supporters we have already raised about half of this amount. We are applying to a number of Foundations for assistance, but we really need your help to achieve our goal of buying Dundreggan and returning this area of outstanding beauty back to wild forest, forever! We're launching a scheme to enable people to support us by sponsoring a hectare of Dundreggan for £500, or an acre for £200. Please join us in this, by sponsoring an area, either by yourself, or by getting together with friends and family. Your help can make all the difference, and will enable us to make this dramatic breakthrough for our work.
With your support now, the purchase of Dundreggan will enable us to:
Plan for the planting of at least half a million native trees and the establishment of several large stands of aspen.
Protect and expand one of the best areas of juniper woodland in the Highlands.
Add a significant area to the forest corridor that we're planning to link Glen Affric and Glen Moriston.
Restore the dwarf birch on the estate, to create the largest healthy area of this montane shrub species in Scotland.
Create a continuous tract of native forest from the riparian zone by the River Moriston right up through the montane scrub at the tree line.
Provide an expanded natural habitat for species such as pine marten, Scottish crossbill and wood ants, and plan for the long term recovery of all the forest flora and fauna to this large area of land.
Secure the future of Dundreggan for generations to come.
Please help us make the most of this exceptional opportunity!
The purchase of the Dundreggan Estate offers the best opportunity ever for us to bring the Caledonian Forest back to a significant area in the Highlands. I'm very excited by the potential of implementing long-term projects there for the return of the entire forest ecosystem, and it represents a tremendous step forward for Trees for Life. Everything we've learned and developed about bringing back the forest in the past 16 years can be put into practice, together, on Dundreggan, but we need your support now to do this.
Please join us by sponsoring an area of Dundreggan today - to make a donation online to this project, please go to our order form. Our goal of purchasing Dundreggan is ambitious, but I know that we will succeed, with the help of our supporters, like you, so thank you in advance for any donation you can make.
Yours sincerely,
Alan Watson Featherstone
Executive Director
Please click here to make a donation to the Dundreggan Purchase Appeal
via our secure server.
We can also take your donation by phone: tel. 0845 458 3505. Thank you.
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