The evidence is there that rapid climate change is affecting the mountains. Snow coverage is reducing, there are increasingly heavy storms and prolonged dry spells - all causing knock-on impacts on mountain ecology and creating a biodiversity crisis on top of the climate crisis.
You can do something about this. Take action on the climate crisis by ensuring that a tree is planted in the Scottish Highlands for each trip you make into the hills for recreation.
Mountaineering Scotland, in partnership with the charity Trees for Life, are offering our members the opportunity to have a tree or trees planted on your behalf. Each tree planted will help mitigate your recreational carbon footprint, and supports wildlife and biodiversity in Scotland’s mountains.
A donation of just £6 secures a tree of local stock in the highlands, storing away carbon for the rest of its natural lifespan.
You can donate as an individual or club through the Mountaineering Scotland corporate grove on the Trees for Life website using the link below.
Trees will be planted at the Trees for Life hillside estate at Dundreggan, in Glenmoriston, near Loch Ness which includes pinewoods, birch and juniper woodlands.
With mires, wetlands and wildflower meadows, Dundreggan is rewilding the Highland landscape, and with Glen Affric, one of the largest ancient Caledonian pine woods in Scotland, just over the watershed to the north, this is rewilding on a landscape scale.
The trees we plant will grow for their natural lifespan, storing carbon away year on year as mitigation for carbon dioxide emitted during travel.
The creation of woodland is also good for wildlife: birds such as crested tits and woodpeckers; animals like red squirrels and pine martins; butterflies and dragonflies sheltering in clearings; woodland flowers speckling the ground; mosses and lichens encrusting bark and branch, and the almost invisible fungi that recycle nutrients and improve the soil, allowing it to store more carbon.
We encourage all our members to make a difference in tackling the effects of rapid climate change, and hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity for action.
"Such a worthwhile project"
"About time I did this glad Mountaineering Scotland have set it up."
"A fabulous initiative. Sits perfectly with the love nature and the great outdoors."
"I have taken so much from the outdoors and given too little back, so this is a tint step in the right direction. Thank you for your work."
Photos by Trees for Life
© 2024 Mountaineering Scotland
ClimbScotland is a registered trademark of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland Limited
Mountaineering Scotland is a registered trademark of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland Limited
