Hello! They are having great success over in the Cairngorms in central/eastern Scotland if you get impatient and would like to see some nice examples soon. I'd recommend visiting Invereshie and Inshriach National Nature Reserve or Abernethy National Nature Reserve. Fingers crossed this will be one of a few examples of good Caledonian Pinewood regeneration in the west of Scotland in a few decades, it takes a wee bit longer to regenerate there! Cheers, Isla.
Love how diverse Mossy Earth's project collaborations are !! I am excited to see the updates of the drone mapping ^^ I'm very interested in how GIS interacts with different projects
Hello! I'm really excited to see it too, and I hope the mother nature of Scotland's west coast gives us an opportunity to get the drone in the air next time. 😆 Cheers, Isla.
The best natural restoration channel on RUclips! What I appreciate the most is your holistic approach. The way you guys think of every minute details that will be affected by your actions. I would love to experience your thought process. All the meetings, discussions. How you conduct the group so all the details are discussed.
Thank you for the kind words! I am glad you feel this way about our team! We hope to make things more transparent and clearer in the future but it is good to know you think we are communicating well already. In the future we could reserve some of these interesting discussions for some podcast episodes perhaps. Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes Thanks for the good work you are doing. There seems to be more and more of this sort of thing being done and we will all benefit. Thanks 🙂
Hello Isla, great work on restoring Scotland's rainforest. A quick question - At mossy Earth, you currently have 18 projects in the UK, and only 2 in Ireland. Currently, Ireland is pretty much an ecological desert, with the native tree cover being only 2%, the other being mostly invasive, non-native pine and spruce plantations. Can you please tell , if Mossy Earth plans to do any new biodiversity projects in Ireland?
Really good video, really interesting and informative. I'd have thought that nature would have recovered far more readily than you've indicated, but having been up there recently and seen how bleak and/or industrialised (Forested areas) are, I get where you're coming from. A massive task, but good to see a start made.
I am wondering if the halfmoons they put in the ground in Nigeria to stop the desert could also help here to restore the water tables and put a stop to barren lands! Great restoration plans! Proud to be a part of!
I may have missed it, but does the plan call for slower natural regeneration, or once the herbivore pressure is lowered do you plan to use native species seedlings and saplings to jumpstart the regeneration?
Hello! No you didn't miss anything, I don't think I explicitly addressed that point in this video. There is a good seed source on site for most native species usually found in this area of Scotland nearby, and the community might undertake some small scale planting of less well represented species like juniper. Cheers, Isla. 😄
It's a really, really sparse when it's cleared to leave the natives, leaving them very exposed, especially as they are so drawn and spindly. One big storm and what's left doesn't look like it can stand up to too much. I removed my 2 Larch trees on the advice of my neighbour, because he said there was some sort of disease affecting them, which can spread to affect my other trees. I turned them into firewood, clearing away everything. I used to plant trees to the standard distance recommendation, but deer were impacting them too much and destroying way too many (they love Scot's Pine. Grrr). Quite by accident, without knowing of its existence, I decided to employ what is now called the Miyawake method, shoving tree seedlings in close together, and let species fight it out. This seems to prevent them from getting attacked by deer anywhere near so much. I do still plant non natives, but mix them in with natives, planning carefully with a view to removal without causing other trees too much damage.
Hey! I understand your concern and you raise a good point. When the team were assessing the best course of action at this site the decision was made to remove all of the lodgepole pine and Sitka spruce at once because of logistical challenges (the site is only accessible by boat or a very long walk!) and other risks presented by leaving them there. If they were to leave live specimens the problem would persist because of how quickly these species regenerate. As ever it is a case of weighing up the risks of various courses of action, and for this site removal was identified as the best option for the native trees on site. Good luck with your project! It sounds like you've got all bases covered. Cheers, Isla. 😄
Hi there! Good question. It is my understanding that Simon and his team make this assessment as they go, and if they see a particular tree that is suitable for leaving as standing deadwood then they do so. So not a formal assessment as such. Cheers, Isla. ☺
Q1: After the clear cut, do you think something like a Miyawaki method using as many local ecotype trees as possible would be in the budget? Normally not feasible in a more remote location, but with temperate rainforest expected precipitation *and* the fact that you could do one edge along or quite near the loch indicates perhaps enough less direct maintenance in this case to be an exception to that feasibility Q2: Is there any soil sampling to see the change over time of the mycorrhizae and bacterial inhabitants? Or is that outside of budget right now (also remembering HUMAN TIME is a budgeted resource, not just cash)
Hello! Good question, I posed it to Liam this evening. See his answer below: "The needles will fall off the brash within a year and decompose so it's not really a significant risk to merit the cost, time and risk of taking it off site. In addition the lodge pole pine has been growing there for 50 odd years so leaving the brash one more year is not going to make a substantial difference." Cheers, Isla. 😄
Would this site be suitable for the reintroduction of predators such as the Eurasian Lynx or Wolf? Both would help tackle the deer, with the Lynx also taking on more of the smaller herbivores vs the wolves going after boar.
I find the explanation that so much of the timber is removed because it would take too long to decay not very plausible. What would be the issue with that?
Hello! Fair question. This mustn't have been communicated in the vlog but there is more to that particular point. The amount of timber that was on the site could have drastically altered the habitat structure and slowed habitat recovery (like the regeneration of trees and other vegetation). With Scots pine taking longer to regenerate on the west coast of Scotland (amongst other factors) this is a risk the team didn't want to take, so taking a balanced approach and leaving only a portion behind was identified as the best way forward. Cheers, Isla.
With Scottish landownership what it is, and the degradation of the Caledonian Scots Pine forest over the decades and centuries it's probably nothing but a pipe dream. However it would be great if there was a concerted effort to map the area that would have been Caledonian forest land, and some sort of effort to regenerate the areas between the existing fragments together within that map. That though would probably take some sort of partnership between various land owners which for the most part seem to be highly sceptical of anything that may change their income stream.
Thank you for the support! We expect to find natural regeneration within the first two years of the project if low browsing pressure can be achieved and maintained through management, but some species such as Scots pine can take a long time to regenerate in this area of Scotland. This might be because of the waterlogged conditions in the west coast, meaning that Scots pine trees can take around 30 years to grow to a height at which they are less vulnerable to browsing by herbivores. Cheers, Isla.
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes Will you try and protect the young trees with wooden fencing? In most german forests i know of areas fenced off to allow the young trees to grow free of deer. Of course that requires maintenance but it seems to work.
I think fencing things off will never work, a lobby group must be set up to introduce the Canis lupus back to Scotland. Take down more fencing and introduce a scheme that compensates farmers for reforesting their land from animal agriculture to native woodland or habitat. In the hand over compensenate for loss of animals till its done with. let the land restore with the aid of moss earth & others backed by goverment
Some are left there but for this particular project we would leave too much of it and it could affect the soil and the regeneration speed. So this is attemting to strike a balance. Cheers, Duarte
I’m glad that I’m still in my early twenties, and so might have a chance to visit a well recovered Scots Pine forest in my lifetime!
Hello! They are having great success over in the Cairngorms in central/eastern Scotland if you get impatient and would like to see some nice examples soon. I'd recommend visiting Invereshie and Inshriach National Nature Reserve or Abernethy National Nature Reserve. Fingers crossed this will be one of a few examples of good Caledonian Pinewood regeneration in the west of Scotland in a few decades, it takes a wee bit longer to regenerate there! Cheers, Isla.
@@MossyEarth-FieldNoteswhy is there that difference between East and West?
Love how diverse Mossy Earth's project collaborations are !!
I am excited to see the updates of the drone mapping ^^ I'm very interested in how GIS interacts with different projects
Hello! I'm really excited to see it too, and I hope the mother nature of Scotland's west coast gives us an opportunity to get the drone in the air next time. 😆 Cheers, Isla.
@MossyEarth-FieldNotes omg i didnt think about it! Maybe put up a sign so the wind knows when u plan on filming 😆😆
The best natural restoration channel on RUclips!
What I appreciate the most is your holistic approach. The way you guys think of every minute details that will be affected by your actions. I would love to experience your thought process. All the meetings, discussions. How you conduct the group so all the details are discussed.
Thank you for the kind words! I am glad you feel this way about our team! We hope to make things more transparent and clearer in the future but it is good to know you think we are communicating well already. In the future we could reserve some of these interesting discussions for some podcast episodes perhaps. Cheers, Duarte
The wide-spread fern coverage is good news. It can drastically lower temperatures during high summer and protect new seedlings.
The situation is not ideal but the trend is positive! 🙂 Better days are here!
Thank you for bringing good energy! Cheers, Isla. ☺
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes Thanks for the good work you are doing. There seems to be more and more of this sort of thing being done and we will all benefit. Thanks 🙂
I love seeing horses and other low-impact methods coming back to logging, especially in vulnerable areas.
Man, that curled-stemmed tree is UNBELIEVABLE. Please make some high-quality pictures of it, this needs to be preserved!!! It's "MacCurley"
It grew around another tree, and killed it. The dead tree then rotted away
"The right tree in the right place." Hear, hear Isla. Very well put.
It's so great to meet all of these amazing people that are a part of these projects!
Great organization! Great work.
Thank you! It's great to be a part of this collaborative effort with all our fantastic partners on this project!
+
Marvelous work Isla and Liam🌲🙌🏻🌲 Can't wait to see the progression of the natural regeneration over time.
Very interesting update. I’ll have to go back and watch the original video as that was one from prior to me becoming a follower / member
What a great job, everyone! Especially the pup-pup, obviously in charge as overseer. ❤
A great overseer indeed 😂
Thanks for the update
Thanks for following! It's going to be interesting to see how this site develops!
Hello Isla, great work on restoring Scotland's rainforest. A quick question - At mossy Earth, you currently have 18 projects in the UK, and only 2 in Ireland. Currently, Ireland is pretty much an ecological desert, with the native tree cover being only 2%, the other being mostly invasive, non-native pine and spruce plantations. Can you please tell , if Mossy Earth plans to do any new biodiversity projects in Ireland?
Really interesting to see & follow along, great vlog
Glad you enjoyed it Paul! cheers Tim
Same ^^
+
This is probably the best/ most positive thing to happen to this forest since soon after people first moved into the area.
How beautiful to see! Im so happy you're putting my monthly payments to such good use. Keep it up, and i love this project! ❤
I've actually walked through that exact forest.
Really good video, really interesting and informative. I'd have thought that nature would have recovered far more readily than you've indicated, but having been up there recently and seen how bleak and/or industrialised (Forested areas) are, I get where you're coming from. A massive task, but good to see a start made.
Commenting for the algorithm :)
same
Likewise
What a good idea
I am wondering if the halfmoons they put in the ground in Nigeria to stop the desert could also help here to restore the water tables and put a stop to barren lands! Great restoration plans! Proud to be a part of!
I think they did it in Niger, not Nigeria
@@nuvi5480 Its "Federal Republic of Nigeria" and Niger only if you are french or german speaking. Is it local? i dont know this is english
Tanzania too. @@nuvi5480
I would love to see a dozen or so bunds, or halfmoons put in this location. They could boost the biodiversity by creating little microbiomes.
Keep up the good work, Isla!
Cheers Matt! ☺
I may have missed it, but does the plan call for slower natural regeneration, or once the herbivore pressure is lowered do you plan to use native species seedlings and saplings to jumpstart the regeneration?
Hello! No you didn't miss anything, I don't think I explicitly addressed that point in this video. There is a good seed source on site for most native species usually found in this area of Scotland nearby, and the community might undertake some small scale planting of less well represented species like juniper. Cheers, Isla. 😄
It's a really, really sparse when it's cleared to leave the natives, leaving them very exposed, especially as they are so drawn and spindly. One big storm and what's left doesn't look like it can stand up to too much.
I removed my 2 Larch trees on the advice of my neighbour, because he said there was some sort of disease affecting them, which can spread to affect my other trees. I turned them into firewood, clearing away everything.
I used to plant trees to the standard distance recommendation, but deer were impacting them too much and destroying way too many (they love Scot's Pine. Grrr). Quite by accident, without knowing of its existence, I decided to employ what is now called the Miyawake method, shoving tree seedlings in close together, and let species fight it out. This seems to prevent them from getting attacked by deer anywhere near so much.
I do still plant non natives, but mix them in with natives, planning carefully with a view to removal without causing other trees too much damage.
Hey! I understand your concern and you raise a good point. When the team were assessing the best course of action at this site the decision was made to remove all of the lodgepole pine and Sitka spruce at once because of logistical challenges (the site is only accessible by boat or a very long walk!) and other risks presented by leaving them there. If they were to leave live specimens the problem would persist because of how quickly these species regenerate. As ever it is a case of weighing up the risks of various courses of action, and for this site removal was identified as the best option for the native trees on site. Good luck with your project! It sounds like you've got all bases covered. Cheers, Isla. 😄
Is there some kinda assessment about turning some of the trees into standing deadwood by debarking, rather than felling all of them?
Hi there! Good question. It is my understanding that Simon and his team make this assessment as they go, and if they see a particular tree that is suitable for leaving as standing deadwood then they do so. So not a formal assessment as such. Cheers, Isla. ☺
Would ringbarking the invasives work for preventing their regeneration but keeping them as windbreaks?
Q1: After the clear cut, do you think something like a Miyawaki method using as many local ecotype trees as possible would be in the budget? Normally not feasible in a more remote location, but with temperate rainforest expected precipitation *and* the fact that you could do one edge along or quite near the loch indicates perhaps enough less direct maintenance in this case to be an exception to that feasibility
Q2: Is there any soil sampling to see the change over time of the mycorrhizae and bacterial inhabitants? Or is that outside of budget right now (also remembering HUMAN TIME is a budgeted resource, not just cash)
Yeah™ 👍
Hi Isla, if the lodge pole pines are able spread blight to the Scot’s pine, does leaving the brash create an opportunity for the blight to be spread?
I was wondering about it too!
Hello! Good question, I posed it to Liam this evening. See his answer below:
"The needles will fall off the brash within a year and decompose so it's not really a significant risk to merit the cost, time and risk of taking it off site. In addition the lodge pole pine has been growing there for 50 odd years so leaving the brash one more year is not going to make a substantial difference."
Cheers, Isla. 😄
@ Thanks Isla / Liam
both the Scots pine and birch are notoriously intolerant of shade since they are fast growing short lived pioneer species
Would this site be suitable for the reintroduction of predators such as the Eurasian Lynx or Wolf?
Both would help tackle the deer, with the Lynx also taking on more of the smaller herbivores vs the wolves going after boar.
i really like your accent! Other than that i really also liked the rest of the video :)
Thanks for the support! 😄Cheers, Isla.
I find the explanation that so much of the timber is removed because it would take too long to decay not very plausible. What would be the issue with that?
Hello! Fair question. This mustn't have been communicated in the vlog but there is more to that particular point. The amount of timber that was on the site could have drastically altered the habitat structure and slowed habitat recovery (like the regeneration of trees and other vegetation). With Scots pine taking longer to regenerate on the west coast of Scotland (amongst other factors) this is a risk the team didn't want to take, so taking a balanced approach and leaving only a portion behind was identified as the best way forward. Cheers, Isla.
Thank you for the detailed explanation. I am sure you thought this through.
what sort of role does fire have in Scottish forests?
Is this a new project?
I don't remember this
I love Caledonian rain forests, so that would be embarrassing
So I apparently missed it :(
Hey! We have had the project for a while but only posted one video on the main channel about it. So you have not missed much! Cheers, Duarte
With Scottish landownership what it is, and the degradation of the Caledonian Scots Pine forest over the decades and centuries it's probably nothing but a pipe dream. However it would be great if there was a concerted effort to map the area that would have been Caledonian forest land, and some sort of effort to regenerate the areas between the existing fragments together within that map. That though would probably take some sort of partnership between various land owners which for the most part seem to be highly sceptical of anything that may change their income stream.
Good work ^^ I do wonder how long it will do to really start visibly regrowing
Thank you for the support! We expect to find natural regeneration within the first two years of the project if low browsing pressure can be achieved and maintained through management, but some species such as Scots pine can take a long time to regenerate in this area of Scotland. This might be because of the waterlogged conditions in the west coast, meaning that Scots pine trees can take around 30 years to grow to a height at which they are less vulnerable to browsing by herbivores. Cheers, Isla.
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes Will you try and protect the young trees with wooden fencing? In most german forests i know of areas fenced off to allow the young trees to grow free of deer. Of course that requires maintenance but it seems to work.
💚🧡🩶
I think fencing things off will never work, a lobby group must be set up to introduce the Canis lupus back to Scotland. Take down more fencing and introduce a scheme that compensates farmers for reforesting their land from animal agriculture to native woodland or habitat. In the hand over compensenate for loss of animals till its done with. let the land restore with the aid of moss earth & others backed by goverment
so many of the problems is Scotland seam to go back to the deer. the solution is obvious.
Every tree removed from the site is lost biomass. Let them standing as deadwood or as food for new trees. Sorry for bad English.
Some are left there but for this particular project we would leave too much of it and it could affect the soil and the regeneration speed. So this is attemting to strike a balance. Cheers, Duarte