The Scottish Rainforest Education Centre
For the protection & regeneration of the Scottish temperate rainforest
The Scottish Rainforest Education Centre is a gateway to the Scottish temperate rainforests, for those with knowledge of this rare habitat, and those who are discovering it for the first time. The centre will introduce the rainforests to a wider audience and to make it accessible to urban children and adults.
The Scottish Rainforest Education Centre (SREC) is currently considering several options in the Lochaber area for the physical Centre.
The main aim of the SREC will be to assist scientists, researchers and volunteers working in rainforest regeneration and to be a hub for all organisations working in rainforest regeneration.
As a partner in the development phase of the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest project Our Rainforest Futures, the SREC is working closely with the other partners. The SREC is also in discussions with a number of organisations already working on rainforest community and educational projects. This will enable the SREC to support these initiatives and in addition further develop its own educational aims and objectives.
Photo by John MacPherson
Aims of the Centre
The Scottish Rainforest Education Centre will support the protection & regeneration of the Scottish temperate rainforest. It aims to:
Support scientists, researchers, volunteers, organisations and individual landowners working in temperate rainforest regeneration and rewilding by providing them with a base in the Lochaber area.
Provide a centre for scientists working in any area protecting the rainforest and its restoration through rewilding, replanting, fencing out herbivores such as deer and sheep.
Be a data storage hub for all the diverse scientific information being collected and analysed.
Bring together – in one place – all the knowledge acquired on Scottish Rainforest protection and restoration, and develop models for future rainforest regeneration projects
Provide a venue, lecture rooms, meetings places and spaces.
Host lectures, classes and courses on woodland skills.
a centre for scientific discussion and debate
Science & Education
Sharing knowledge
Adopting best practices
Learning and understanding what is working and building on this knowledge
Welcoming scientists and experts
Bryophytes experts
Scientists studying dragonflies
Scientists studying butterflies
Scientists conducting transects to understand under canopy habitats i.e. what is growing on the woodland floor the ground under woodland trees
Members of other organisations – Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest
A Centre for the Local & Wider Community
PURPOSE
The advancement of education by establishing a Rainforest Educational Centre in the Lochaber area to provide educational opportunities, for the benefit of the local community and wider public on the conservation, promotion and improvement of the woodland temperate rainforests in Scotland.
The advancement of environmental and biodiversity protection or improvement by engaging with the local community and wider public to encourage the conservation, promotion and improvement of the woodland temperate rainforests in Scotland.
Community
We aim to allow the local community to use the space in the centre for community events and involving local people in the work of rainforest restoration.
We will offer guided walks in the rainforest for members of the community to learn about its importance and to better understand the rare and precious habitat they live in.
Developing locally a sense of stewardship.
Running courses which would provide training to members of the community and enable them to acquire skills to find employment /work in rainforest management e.g., as rangers or foresters.
The centre will encourage community activities and provide free spaces at the centre for these activities.
Gaelic & English
The centre will provide information in English and Gaelic and host lectures to enable a greater understanding of Gaelic place names and their importance in understanding the rainforest.
Schools
The centre will liaise with local schools and inner-city schools for visits and stays where they can explore nature and learn about the importance of these rainforests.
Foraging days.
Lessons about woodland.
Days out in the rainforest, the native woodland.
Children from inner-city schools can spend a week in Nature.
Artists
The Scottish Rainforest Education Centre will also be a place for creative people who want to come for each season to stay and create, such as:
Groups of painters and photographers.
Musicians – making music in the rainforest.
Volunteers
Join the hundreds of volunteers who come to help with seed collection from the wild native trees, helping planting native seedlings, helping with transects, monitoring red squirrels and so on.
Mental health trips
The healing power of rainforests.
The centre will encourage those people with mental health issues and the disadvantaged to visit and stay at the centre.