209 a deer fence can be all that’s needed for the trees to naturally expand the forest. To imagine what the Affric Highlands Partnership can accomplish in terms of biodiversity restoration, the team looks to an example set by the healthy pinewoods of Norway. “If you travel just 200 miles east of here to southwest Norway—the same latitude—you can hardly walk in a pinewood without standing on twinflower, which is a rare species in Scotland,” McDonnell said. “It can feel like there’s miles of the stuff there, along with a diversity of mammals.” Returning Missing Species Trees for Life has had success in returning mammals that have gone locally extinct or have been in serious decline in Scotland, including beavers and red squirrels. “Red squirrels were captured from the east where they thrive and taken to north and west Scotland where they petered out 60 years ago,” McDonnell said. “And lo and behold, they were naturally feeding within days, and in three months there were young squirrels.” McDonnell likes to show people on maps how the squirrel populations have grown bigger and begun moving around. He has watched even the most suspicious rewilding skeptics light up when he talks about these charismatic creatures. The stretch goal of Trees for Life is to return the Eurasian lynx to Scotland. “That’s a very serious social proposition, because we don’t have a predator bigger than an otter now,” McDonnell said. To make the case for lynx reintroduction, Trees for Life has compiled maps of the habitat it likes and the lynx’s impacts on the environment. “The conversation starts with showing where the lynx might go and where it almost certainly wouldn’t,” McDonnell said. “The ability to communicate visually is valuable. We can’t predict exactly what the lynx would do here—it’s a wild animal after all—but we can illustrate the Safeguarding Habitats and Wildlife range of scenarios based on knowledge of similar landscapes and situations.” Showing What’s Possible McDonnell has seen restoration succeed. That helps fuel his passion. Thirty years ago, Trees for Life replanted native trees in an area of open ground in Glen Affric. Colleagues he calls “tree wizards” went high into the crags of mountains to harvest seeds in places deer couldn’t reach, to return rare willow species. The word wizard applies in his mind for the ways they keep small remand populations of rare species going with their technical skill and tender loving care. With persistence and vision, a forest slowly took hold. The land has changed, and habitat has been created with the return of insects, fungi, plants, and mammals. The habitat has even led to the return of black grouse—an endangered species in Scotland. “You get this mosaic of habitats,” McDonnell said. “Each step feels quite small, but they are all steps towards bringing richness back into the landscape.” The same GIS maps that guide rewilding efforts also support Trees for Life in communicating the benefits of restoring the Affric Highlands—especially to inspire the next generation. “I don’t know about you, but I remember being young and having lots of idealistic ideas about how things should happen,” McDonnell said. “Just lots of shouting at the wind and saying, ‘Why don’t the people in charge sort this out?’ And of course, that never really comes about. You eventually realize you’ve got to make that change yourself.” Tree planters working on the hills in Glen Affric.
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