ReforestNation is a new project that aims to buy and replace monoculture plantation woodlands and poor quality grazing land with healthy forests in Southern Scotland – and help build community in the process.

NEWS FLASH – HERE’S SOME ARIEL FOOTAGE OF THE FIRST LAND WE WILL BE PLANTING WITH NEW WOODLAND!

We want our project to be both environmentally and economically sustainable, so we aim to make and sell great products from Sitka woods – such as cabins, saunas and sheds – and use the funding we generate to fund reforestation, creating both healthy wild woods for plants and animals, and woods that benefit humans through woodland education and craft programs, hutting communities, and forest gardens.

We have a talented team of people with the rights skills and experience to take the project forward – people with experience of reforesting, permaculture, green wood work, crafts and community education – all with a passion for the ideas behind the project. To find out more about who we are, click here.

Since our launch last Autumn, we’ve already had some great success – we managed to raise £4,525 through our crowdfunding campaign, well over our initial fundraising target.

That money has allowed us to purchase an amazing mobile sawmill from Logosol, which is already being used to mill sitka trees to make the raw materials for our first prototype saunas and small cabins. Once these designs are refined and improved, we hope to start selling them to our supporters to raise more money for the project.

Perhaps our most exciting news is that we now have a new base, and land where we can start our reforesting work – some of the ReforestNation team have successfully purchased 47 acres of rough grazing land at Netherton, near Leadburn in Midlothian. There are intial plans to reforest around 10 acres of this land with native deciduous trees, and expand the number of native Scots Pine trees. We’ve already been planting Alder, Willow, Oak and Silver Birch trees received from the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s nursery at Falls of Clyde and from Simon Colley from his woods at Wiston.

We’ve also started work on our first two small tree nurseries – one at Wiston Lodge in South Lanarkshire, and the other at Netherton. We’ve even had the first green shoots of our first Scots Pine seedlings, grown from seeds collected from the Pentlands Hills. Ultimately we hope to be able to grow many of the trees we will plant at these tree nurseries.

Now that the weather is improving, we’ll also be organising all the exciting woodland craft courses that our supporters backed during the crowdfunding campaign – spoon carving, bowl burning, bushcraft and more. There will be extra spaces available for some of the courses, so stay tuned to our website, Facebook page and Twitter stream for more details if you want to book a space.

It’s been an exciting first six months – we hope to achieve much more by the end of the year.

Thanks again for your support!

Tom Allan, and everyone at ReforestNation.

Our Website – https://reforestnation.org/

Our Twitter Stream – https://twitter.com/Reforestnation

Our Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/reforestnation

Or for more information email us here; reforestnation@gmail.com