NEWS
Celebrating our Youth Rainforest Volunteers this National Volunteer Week
At the Woodland Trust, Rainforest Recovery means not just the return of one of our rarest ecosystems, but the reimagining of our relationship with nature itself. Rediscovering our identity as a Rainforest Nation offers us the unique opportunity to envision a new future rooted in connection and reciprocity- and there is no better expression of hope for this future than the passion and dedication of our incredible youth volunteer teams.
Five Iconic Temperate Rainforest Species
At the Woodland Trust, we are working to bring temperate rainforests back to health, reconnecting and restoring the remaining fragments. On Biodiversity Day, we’re celebrating five key rainforest species that are helping us do just that: the willow, beaver, white-tailed sea eagle, Atlantic salmon and hazel gloves fungus. In this blog, we will explore the role these species play in the ecological web and nutrient cycle of temperate rainforests.
Rainforest Echoes: From the Amazon to Dartmoor
On Sunday the 27th April 2025, members from indigenous communities including the Asháninka and Guarani, and multiple NGOs including Comite Chico Mendes and Instituo Ze Claudio e Maria, all forest guardians involved in the protection of the Amazon Rainforest, joined staff from the Woodland Trust on a tour of Buckland, our new Temperate Rainforest restoration site on Dartmoor.
Welcome to the Rainforest Recovery Blog!
We are proud to introduce the Rainforest Recovery blog, your behind-the-scenes pass to an ambitious project funded by the Species Survival Fund (SSF). Over the coming months, we will be sharing the stories of restoring, protecting and reimagining these forgotten temperate rainforests. We hope to inspire you to join us in creating a landscape that is bigger, better connected, and more resilient for nature and people alike
Help us Secure the Future of Buckland Wood
We are excited to announce that Buckland Wood appeal goes live today. Buckland Wood is situated on the River Dart in East Dartmoor. It is 102 hectares of rare temperate rainforest, and it sits between Ausewell and Grey Park Wood. It is the missing piece of woodland to a whopping 256-hectare swathe of rainforest.
Sky Seeding: 75,000 Native Tree Seeds Sown by Drone
At the Woodland Trust, we are taking a bold step towards restoring the UK’s forgotten temperate rainforests with an innovative drone-seeding trial in the South West of England. In one of the largest trials of its kind, we have used native tree seeds and high-tech drones to sow 75,000 seeds across the rolling hills of Bodmin, Cornwall.
Epiphytes Explained: The role of Lichens and Mosses in our Temperate Rainforests
Temperate rainforests are among the most ecologically diverse ecosystems in the world. Although 90% of the UK’s temperate rainforests have been lost, these rainforests remain a stronghold for a remarkable diversity of lichens and mosses. In this blog, we will explore the essential roles these species play in maintaining the health and balance of temperate rainforests.
Restoring British Salmon Forests - A Lesson from Canada and Yarner Woods
It has been fascinating to stumble into the world of rainforest restoration in the UK, at what feels like a very pivotal time for cultural identity; as the lichen and fern-clad, rain-sodden woodlands of coastal UK are increasingly being reimagined as Atlantic Temperate Rainforests. Having moved over from Vancouver Island, Canada, I’ll admit that the last thing I expected to encounter in the UK was rainforest. Rather, I had pictured wind-battered coastal cliffs, rolling meadows with the occasional craggy old oak, and Heathcliffe emerging from the mist of a heather-clad moorland.