FOUNDING members of the Border Forest Trust gathered at Carrifran on New Year’s Day to mark 25 years since their first tree planting.
They took to the hills near Moffat to celebrate and reflect on all that has been achieved in the 25 years since the first planting of the the Carrifran Wildwood, and what would become the Wild Heart.
Fi Martynoga was one of the volunteers who went out on millennium day to plant trees. Recalling the experience, she said: “Snow, rain and wind did not stop us on Millennium Day, nor did they on New Year’s Day, 25 years later, when a dozen or so of us gathered at Carrifran to celebrate this quarter century.
“The bugle that signalled the moment to plant the first 100 trees was again blown and Joe Wilton struck up ‘The Rowan Tree’ on his small pipes, recalling another piper on that first planting day. The mood was excited, as all of us who have seen the valley grow and change over these years are thrilled by how well it is developing. It’s not just trees but flowers, insects, birds and beasts that are flooding back to occupy this new demi-paradise. We see it as an oasis of optimism in a world beset by so many troubles.”
Since 2000 the group have gone on to plant thousands of native trees at other sites in the Moffat Hills, including Ericstane, Talla and Corehead, with plans for a further 74,336 mixed broadleaved trees and shrubs to be planted at Ericstane North throughout 2025 and 2026.
For the founding members seeing the native woodland steadily grow over the last 25 years fills them with a strong sense of gratification as Philip and Myrtle Ashmole added: “The efforts of all those who have dreamed, planned and planted are now coming to fruition: Carrifran is becoming a wild wood once again.”
