We were delighted to welcome Peter Livingstone of Eadha Enterprises for our first talk.
Aspen – a forgotten Scottish native
He gave us an overview of the importance and rarity of Aspen trees around Scotland. These previously would have been very common around Scotland but due to our unique (and unfortunately destructive) land management and changing temperature, they have almost ceased to exist. Peter and his team have painstakingly sought out examples all over Scotland to propagate in their nursery, creating a diverse genetic bank of Aspen, now considered to be the national collection of Aspen.
From this genetic bank, they have now created millions which they have in their nursery over in Bishopton and which are being used in rewilding/planting projects around Scotland. In particular, Aspen have been highlighted as particularly good at filtering areas of land previously used for industry.
So thankfully the story of Aspen and the unique life it supports will change over the coming decades!
In addition to Aspen, his team have been working on a variety of other native and endangered species of trees, shrubs and wildflowers to help rewinding projects.
He highlighted the difficulties in navigating the land ownership, different priorities and slow council – all of which is hindering the efforts to rewild and turn the story on Climate change around.
The main takeaways from the talk
- Eadha have willingness to help / be involved in any projects we might have
- Connecting the dots that each tree species supports unique life adapted perfectly for that tree: local native species will better protect the forest biodiversity than your average B&M plant!
- An appreciation that we have some really wild and untamed land on our doorstep which must be protected and actually is not being fully supported at this time
Overall I came away with a deep sense of relief that there are people like Peter Livingstone making trees their life. Not only by preserving our genetic diversity for years to come, but by continually looking (and succeeding) to find ways in which to repair some of the damage to our ecosystems.
Thank you
Thank you from all of us at Skelmorlie Environment Trust and we look forward to seeing what our relationship will bring!
