Devon tree planting: Work to recreate lost rainforest

The National Trust plans to create vast new areas of temperate rainforest in the south-west of England.

More than 100,000 trees will be planted in north Devon to create swathes of humid woodland that will be home to plants facing extinction.

Experts say the area’s heavy rainfall and high humidity levels provide a unique moisture-rich environment.

Other projects to recreate the lost rainforests of Britain are already ongoing.

Temperate rainforests once covered large areas of the western coast of Britain.

But the habitats have deteriorated due to air pollution, invasive species and diseases and are now one of the most endangered in the UK.

It is hoped the consistently wet climate in north Devon will allow for a unique variety of plants and animals to thrive, including rare ferns and pine martens.

John Deakin, head of trees and woodlands at the National Trust, said: “Temperate rainforests used to be expansive wooded habitats along the western seaboard of the UK, but now all that’s left are fragments.”

Mr Deakin said the rainforests now covered “only 1% of Britain” and were “limited to small patches in Devon, Cornwall, North and West Wales, Cumbria, the West of Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland”.

He said: “As a result, the rare specialist plants that depend on this habitat now desperately cling to the remaining fragments for survival, with some of the woodlands we care for in north Devon containing nearly the entire global population of some of these species, such as the Devon whitebeam.

“Without urgent action, these unique plants could soon be facing extinction.”

The National Trust project will cover 50 hectares of land with 50,000 trees to be planted at Arlington Court, 38,000 on Exmoor and 20,000 between Woolacombe and Hartland.

Further south in Devon, on Dartmoor, rare species of moss and lichen have been identified at Lydford Gorge in the past few years.

Work is underway there to save lichen growing on dying trees by transplanting them to other parts of the forest and by planting new trees.

Threats to the habitats include deforestation, climate change, air pollution and ash dieback.

Devon Wildlife Trust is hoping to double the area of temperate rainforest by reconnecting broken fragments of forest.

Other projects to reintroduce rainforest habitats are also in progress on the Isle of Man and in north west Wales.

The National Trust scheme is part of the Plant a Tree fund which has planted more than one million trees since it launched in 2020.

Among those planting trees at all sites will be community groups, including local primary schools.