vv MOTHER EARTH CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED FOR MOTHER’S DAY   This Mother’s Day (March 14th) a new campaign by conservation charity Trees for Life will give people the chance to care for Mother Earth by having a specially-dedicated tree or grove planted in Scotland’s Caledonian Forest on behalf of their mothers.   The scheme allows people to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss by helping to restore a valuable habitat in the Highlands. Following centuries of deforestation, only one per cent of the Caledonian Forest currently survives.   Alan Watson Featherstone, Trees for Life Executive Director, said: “Caring for Mother Earth is one of the best ways to mark Mother’s Day in 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity. As we celebrate mothers’ care for their children, we can simultaneously create a positive gift for our children by restoring healthy ecosystems like the Caledonian Forest.”   Mother’s Day sees a huge increase in the sale of cut flowers, which often have a significant carbon footprint as they are flown to the UK from overseas, with fossil fuels used in their cultivation, transport and refrigeration. Pesticides and artificial fertilisers used to promote their growth also contribute to the negative impact they have on the environment.   By contrast, every tree creates tangible, positive environmental benefits by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, providing a habitat for wildlife and boosting biodiversity.   Writer and broadcaster Vanessa Collingridge is backing the new campaign. She said: “As the mother of three boys, I feel it’s my job and my pleasure to teach them that the best way to express love is to respect and honour all forms of life, whether human, animal or plant. When it comes to showing you really care, such as on Mother's Day, cut flowers are like an infatuation – a big thrill that lasts for a week or two. However, the gift of a tree, grove or forest lasts for generations. There's no better way to show true and enduring love."   Single trees with a personalised certificate cost £15. Groves of eight trees, with a certificate and a personalised page on Trees for Life’s website, cost £50 and extra trees can be added for £5 each.   People can also support Trees for Life’s award-winning restoration of the Caledonian Forest by joining its acclaimed Conservation Volunteer Weeks. For more information on the charity, see www.treesforlife.org.uk or call 0845 458 3505. INNOVATIVE WILD BOAR RESTORATION PROJECT LAUNCHES IN THE HIGHLANDS   Award-winning conservation charity Trees for Life will today (Thursday November 26th 2009) launch an innovative forest restoration project with the arrival of wild boar in a special woodland enclosure on its Dundreggan Estate in Glen Moriston, Inverness-shire.  Six wild boar – donated by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig near Kingussie – will be used to reduce bracken in an area of ancient birchwood on the estate, restoring a missing ecological process and facilitating the regeneration of native trees and woodland flowering plants. Alan Watson Featherstone, Executive Director of Trees for Life, said: “Wild boar are an integral part of the Caledonian Forest, and their presence is crucial to the ecological health and balance of a natural woodland. We are very excited to be bringing them to Dundreggan, as they will play a key role in the restoration of the forest there.”   Trees for Life will build on the experience of the 2004-2007 Guisachan Wild Boar Project based on the edge of the Glen Affric National Nature Reserve. That project, in which the charity was a partner, demonstrated the importance of wild boar in forest ecosystems.   Ecologist Liz Balharry, who coordinated the Guisachan Wild Boar Project and is advising Trees for Life, said: “Wild boar are outstanding ecological engineers. Their return to Dundreggan will utilise the knowledge gained by my project and is exciting news for forest restoration in Scotland.” The ancient birchwood on Dundreggan, like many woodlands in the Highlands, contains an excessive growth of bracken, which shades out flowering plants, inhibiting the regeneration of trees and creating a dense and impenetrable understorey.   Bracken grows rapidly through underground runners called rhizomes. Because its fronds are toxic to most animals, it is often ungrazed and so spreads unchecked. Boar provide a natural control by eating both the rhizomes and fronds. By rooting and exposing the soil, they also create an excellent seedbed for the germination of trees and other woodland plants.   The project will focus on a 12.3 hectare (30.4 acre) area, with the boar confined inside a secure enclosure. Volunteers on Trees for Life’s Conservation Volunteer Weeks will help to monitor the boar’s effectiveness in reducing bracken, and the project will form part of an educational experience for visitors, including school groups.   People can support Trees for Life’s restoration of the Caledonian Forest – of which only 1% survives – by purchasing dedicated trees and groves or by joining its Conservation Volunteer Weeks. For details, see www.treesforlife.org.uk or call 0845 458 3505.   Background – about wild boar The wild boar is the ancestor of domestic pigs and is a surprisingly shy and gentle animal, which generally avoids humans. Its fierce reputation is largely undeserved, although like many animals it can be formidable if cornered. The wild boar has come to symbolise courage in many cultures. Formerly native to the UK, it was hunted to extinction, probably by the 13th century. Unsuccessful attempts at reintroduction were made in the 17th century. Escapes of captive wild boar have occurred since the 1970s.  As a result there are now free living populations of wild boar in Kent, Sussex and Devon.