The Scottish Rainforest Education Centre (SREC) will be based in the Lochaber area.
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.
There are numerous and diverse rainforest regeneration projects already being implemented across Scotland. An evaluation has begun by several organisations of these rainforest regeneration projects now 15 to 20 years old. Learning important lessons, which can be included in the rainforest regeneration projects being developed and implemented now.
Many many more rainforest regeneration projects have to be implemented. As these fragile rainforest habitats are under severe threat and could disappear altogether. They are the descendants of trees which first appeared in Scotland at the end of the last ice age nearly 12,000 years ago.
There are multiple threats:
- the spread of non native trees;
- overgrazing by deer;
- rising temperatures;
- climate change;
- fragmentation of the habitat; and
- tree disease.
Trees for Life have done a major study into the health of pinewoods. And the result is that there are approximately 42,000 acres (16,998 ha) of original woodland remaining.
“A landscape-scale approach is urgently required to save, expand and connect these precious woodlands. The majority of the surviving fragments are now on a knife-edge, and bold action is needed to save them from being lost forever.”
Steve Micklewright, Chief Executive, Trees for Life
These temperate rainforests are as important as tropical rainforest and even rarer.
Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest (ASR) aims to establish and fund a series of landscape scale projects across the Scottish rainforest zone.
These Scottish rainforests are native woodlands found along the west coast in the ‘hyper oceanic’ zone. This zone with high levels of rainfall and fairly mild temperatures all year are the prefect conditions for some of the rarest bryophytes and lichens in Western Europe.
The SREC will work closely with the Woodland Trust Scotland.
The SREC will aim to work with all these successful projects and assist in the implementation of many more regeneration projects.