Pine Custodianship
Guests and patrons from across the world can now become Custodians of Alladale’s ancient pines. Each Custodianship package allows people to connect with the landscape, while supporting the planting of fifty native saplings in our reforestation plan.
Each tree in the Alladale Pine Custodians project has been gifted a Gaelic or Scots name – a descriptive, local term for natural features, born centuries ago. Together, they form an index that articulates a sense of place and belonging in a wild landscape. Custodianship is a way to connect with the past, present and future of Scotland’s landscapes, while directly supporting their restoration.
£500.00
YOUR CUSTODIANSHIP
By choosing Custodianship, you will become a Custodian of one ancient Scots Pine tree at Alladale. You will receive a beautiful custodianship pack, containing your unique certificate, a 1/1 edition fine-art print from Adrian Houston, and a signed copy of his book, Portrait of the Tree.
With your Custodianship, Alladale will plant 50 native saplings in our reforestation plan, allowing you to support the establishment of a new generation of trees.
Send as a gift?
Custodianship makes for a wonderful meaningful gift. Planted saplings will grow and nourish biodiversity over centuries. If you would like to give the gift of Custodianship, simply add the name of the recipient and a short message at the checkout.
LEAVING A LEGACY OF WOODLAND RESTORATION
Caledonian Pinewoods are some of Scotland’s oldest and richest habitats. More than 11,000 years ago a warming climate caused glaciers to retreat, and a mosaic of trees formed a vast forest across Scotland. However, over the millennia, 95% of these forests have disappeared due to shipbuilding, the industrial revolution, two world wars and livestock rearing. Ancient pine trees are the last vestiges of that lost wilderness, once roamed by wild boar, wolves, lynx and even bears.
There are over 2000 remaining ancient Caledonian pines at Alladale, some 470 years old. With most of the veterans no longer producing viable seed, any saplings that do germinate are quickly browsed by deer. But through Custodianship, we can reanimate these elders by creating new protected woodlands, through principles of rewilding.
“As a custodian of an ancestral tree, reawakened through the saplings that you have enabled to take root, that deeper connection with nature – that legacy – can now live on in you.”
The trees
ABOUT ADRIAN HOUSTON
These trees have been beautifully photographed by Adrian Houston, acclaimed fine-art photographer and author of ‘A Portrait of the Tree’.
“Nature has an intensity so strong it gives you a totally different view on the world. When you witness earth’s natural power, it is sometimes hard to see its underlying fragility. But scratch beneath the surface and it is there.”
ADRIAN HOUSTON
questions
After purchasing Custodianship, you’ll receive an email from Alladale confirming receipt. In the post, you’ll receive your unique Custodianship pack. This gives details of exactly where your tree is on the Reserve, your tree’s unique Gaelic or Scots name, and a personalised certificate which you can frame, along with your unique edition 1/1 Adrian Houston fine art print.
Every Custodianship allows us to plant 50 new native saplings in the Reserve’s reforestation plan. The saplings will be planted in deer-proof exclosures, protecting them from overbrowsing and allowing them to flourish.
Saplings planted will be native broadleaf species that were once part of the diverse Wood of Caledon. We will be planting Scots pine, alder, rowan, willow, birch, oak, aspen, holly, hazel, and juniper.
If you’re staying at Alladale, our rangers can guide you to the trees included in the Custodianships programme for you to select. For online purchases, trees are allocated at random.
Every tree in our Custodianship programmes is mapped, and well known to all rangers. At Alladale you can arrange an ecologically-guided walk to see your tree.
Custodianships make wonderful gifts. If you intend to purchase one for a special someone in your life – perhaps a family member, friend, or colleague – simply complete the online process as normal, but with the lucky person’s name and postage details. You can include a personalised message, which will be added to your Custodianship pack.
Custodianships are a wonderful way to make an impact for nature as a business. Your organisation can hold a Custodianship. To note, we do not offer carbon accounting or offsetting for any commercial activities through our Custodianships. If you require a VAT receipt, please email pinecustodians@alladale.com.
