“This stuff works!” I thought, gazing out over the regenerating trees. I recently celebrated leading my 85th Trees for Life Conservation Week. A few of these were as a volunteer, the bulk as a Group Leader, and a number also leading the Leader Training weeks. It was also exactly eighteen years since I first came on a Conservation Week as a wide-eyed young volunteer, so being back out at the Athnamulloch Bothy in Glen Affric, where my TFL experience began, gave a lot of pause for reflection.
In that time (during a chunk of which I was also a staff member) I’ve been fortunate to see some of the results of TFL’s work. Even though eighteen years is a blink of a forest ecosystem’s eye, things are happening: vibrant natural regeneration, native woodland springing back where non-natives have been removed, blanket bog recovering, and more.
I can’t get enough of looking at the view to the west of the Bothy. Scots pines that were planted in the early nineties have now become a young forest. A few years ago I climbed one of these volunteer-planted trees and got about 6 metres above the ground (for a lot of reasons I’m so glad it didn’t fall over)!
Wildlife is responding to the returning trees. Last year I saw a goldcrest further west than I’ve ever seen one in the glen. This year it was the same with a dunnock. Even as far back as 2004 we were already seeing black grouse in West Affric.
I’m hugely grateful for each of those 85 weeks (and counting!), It has been a privilege to work with hundreds of dedicated volunteers and co-leaders, staff and supporters, many of whom are now great friends.
I’d like to give a special thanks to TFL’s founder, Alan Watson Featherstone. While he often points out that it has been a team effort, the project would not exist today without his vision, commitment and determination.
As well as transforming landscapes, I’ve seen countless people’s lives, including my own, enriched and transformed by the Conservation Weeks. There have been fun moments, challenging moments, heartbreaking, frustrating, hilarious and awe-inspiring moments, and I’ve been taught a lot by the people around me and by the forest itself.
Two of the many lessons that I’ve learnt are 1) that rewilding ecosystems tends to rewild people as well, and 2) rewilding really works!
