MAKING HIS-TREE
Peter’s planting campaign has been a success
Ten years ago, there were just five aspen trees in the whole of Renfrewshire.
Now, thanks to the determination and drive of one man and his army of volunteers and supporters, there are 50,000.
Peter Livingstone was made redundant from his job as an environmental consultant during the financial crash of 2007.
He already knew about how aspen trees could be used to regenerate and reclaim industrial land, but, when he discovered there were only five left in Renfrewshire, he knew he had to do something.
He approached Oxfam UK for funding to look into how the aspen tree could be saved and planted.
Now, ten years later, he’s getting ready to plant the millionth grown aspen tree in Scotland at a new site in Bishopton.
Peter said: “The more we read and learned about aspen, the more we realised it has the potential to be a really useful tree.
“It’s a good productive tree, it’s fast growing and it’s important for conservation, wildlife and biodiversity.
“It can regenerate brownfield sites and create community wildlife spots and improve the soil. But it only produces seed after a hot, dry summer, which we don’t have many of in Scotland. So it needs some help.”
The initial funding from Oxfam paid for his own wage and for research and development into cloning the existing aspen trees.
Two years later, he formed the charity and social enterprise Eadha Enterprises from his home in Lochwinnoch.
With support from the Forestry Commission, Peter and volunteers travelled the length and breadth of Scotland to locate aspen t rees and take samples.
Eadha established a small nursery and now sells aspen trees for people to grow in their own gardens, with profits ploughed back into the social enterprise.
Over the years, Eadha, which is still led by Peter working alongside volunteers and consultants, has focused on wildlife projects across Scotland and Renfrewshire.
One of the current jobs is at the new Dargavel Village in Bishopton where they are planting a wide range of wildflowers, shrubs and trees to enhance the greenspace in what once was Europe’s largest brownfield site.
Peter said: “It’s not just us who have planted the aspen trees, they’ve been sent across Scotland.
“I feel so proud to look back and see what we have achieved.
“It’s a dream job, I’m very lucky.”