Trees for Life was founded in 1989 with a specific vision to restore the native woodland to parts of the Scottish Highlands. The Caledonian Forest originally covered much of the Highlands of Scotland, and takes its name from the Romans, who called Scotland ‘Caledonia’, meaning ‘wooded heights’. However, there has been a long history of deforestation in Scotland, and clearance of the land began in Neolithic times. Over the centuries, the forest shrank as the human population grew, and some parts were deliberately burned to eradicate ‘vermin’ such as the wolf. More recently, large areas were felled to satisfy the needs of industry, particularly after the timber supply in England had been exhausted. The widespread introduction of sheep and a large increase in the numbers of red deer ensured that once the forest was cleared, it did not return.
Today less than 1% of the original forests survive, and the native pinewoods have been reduced to 35 isolated remnants (shown in white on the map to the right). Gone with the trees are all the large mammals, with the exception of the deer. Species such as the brown bear and the wild boar had become extinct by the 10th and 17th centuries respectively, while the last to disappear was the wolf, when the final individual was shot in 1743. The shaded part of the map also shows the target area of about 1,000 square miles where Trees for Life are working to restore the native forest.
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