'Literally growing the future': volunteers help save Scottish rainforest by collecting 11m seeds

[cbabe]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/29/growing-the-future-volunteers-help-save-scottish-rainforest-collecting-seeds

‘Literally growing the future’: volunteers help save Scottish rainforest by collecting 11m seeds

Teams painstakingly combed endangered Atlantic habitat over several years, helping to grow 8m native trees

Severin Carrell Scotland editor
Mon 29 Jun 2026 10.06 EDT

A small band of volunteers has helped to grow nearly 8m native trees in Scotland, crucial to efforts to restore lost parts of the Atlantic rainforest, after collecting 11m seeds by hand.

About 100 volunteers, including retired teachers and doctors, office workers and young families, have spent tens of thousands of hours venturing into often remote woods in the western Highlands and islands to search out seed-bearing trees.

They have used detailed maps compiled by NatureScot and Scottish Forestry that identify pockets of ancient woodland, often in exposed, challenging locations, scrambling up hillsides to find the right specimens.

They search for a select range of trees, known to have colonised Scotland after the last ice age: hazel, sessile oak, dwarf birch, willow, juniper, birch, wild cherry, wych elm, yew and elder.

… more … genetic resilience… climate change stress…

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Scotsmen with a sense of purpose!

That much be exciting volunteer work. Doing it for posterity.