An urgent fundraising appeal has been launched to help save one of Cumbria’s rarest habitats.
Landscape charity Friends of the Lake District has launched the appeal to restore temperate rainforest in the Rusland Valley.
Donations made between April 22 and April 29 via the Big Give’s Earth Raise campaign will be doubled, making supporters’ contributions go twice as far.
Temperate rainforests once covered around 20% of the UK, yet today it covers less than 1%.
These internationally rare habitats thrive only in very specific conditions of high rainfall, humidity and mild temperatures.
Their rich, sheltered microclimates are home to mosses, lichens, fungi and ferns, with some species rarely found outside remaining fragments of Cumbrian woodland.
Friends of the Lake District currently looks after two neighbouring woods in the Rusland Valley – Resp Haw and Bull Coppice.
Assessments carried out with with the charity Plantlife revealed several rainforest indicators within these woods and work has since been carried out – such as species monitoring, veteran tree care, glade creation and invasive-species control – to improve these habitats.
The charity is about to be entrusted with additional adjoining woodland, expanding its stewardship to 72 acres—creating a rare and time-sensitive opportunity to revive a thriving rainforest landscape.
Friends of the Lake District’s land manager, Jan Darrall, said: “The thought of a rainforest in Cumbria enchants and inspires people.
“We have a real opportunity to restore these ancient landscapes and protect rare wildlife. Let’s save them while we still can.”
Marion Brown, who lives in the Rusland Valley and who volunteers for Friends of the Lake District, added: “You could spend an entire day in the Friends of the Lake District woods and still not find all the amazing rainforest species hiding in there.
“Every tree, rocky outcrop and dry-stone wall is like a mini city, but like much of the remaining small fragments of temperate rainforest in the UK, these woods are under threat from non-native species, disease and climate change.
“It’s been very special to be part of the rainforest restoration work undertaken over the past two years and I’m delighted that more woodlands in the valley will come under the care of Friends of the Lake District. It means more temperate rainforest can be put on the path to a long and healthy future.”
More information and a link to the Earth Raise donation platform can be found at www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/rainforest-appeal
