Temperate Rainforest Restoration Project

Cornwall Wildlife Trust is working to restore incredible temperate rainforest habitat at West Muchlarnick Farm, near Looe. Our aim is to connect land around this reserve through a combination of planting native trees, allowing for natural regeneration, and protecting native species to bring back this lost ecosystem.

Left as a legacy to Cornwall Wildlife Trust in the early 2000s with a wish that the land would be used to benefit wildlife, West Muchlarnick Farm has huge potential. The site is over 150 acres, split between four areas. The majority of it comprises mostly grassland fields, with some trees and small strips of woodland. However, one area of the site is already covered by temperate rainforest.

Thanks to the generous support of the public, major donors, corporate partners, and community fundraisers we raised over £67,000 to kickstart this project. 

What are temperate rainforests? 

Temperate rainforests are a globally rare habitat. Covering just 1% of the world's surface, they are even rarer than tropical rainforests.

Long ago, they would have covered large areas of Cornwall, hosting amazing biodiversity. These habitats are found in places influenced by the sea, with a mild, wet, humid oceanic climate.

These conditions are perfect for moisture-loving plants and wildlife: native trees like sessile oak, rowan and hazel are clothed in lichen, mosses and ferns, supporting an array of rare fungi, woodland birds and mammals, such as hazel glove fungus, pied flycatchers and redstarts, and stoats and mice.  

Now only small patches of temperate rainforest remain. They were destroyed for timber logging, agriculture, transport and development, and continue to be under threat from air pollution, overgrazing and invasive species. 

Cornwall is home to some of the last remaining areas of temperate rainforest in the UK - and, thanks to the support of our donors, we are working to restore this magical and important habitat at our site in West Muchlarnick, near Looe.

Set within a network of woodlands along West Looe River, West Muchlarnick Farm is an ideal location to bring back the lost temperate rainforest that existed here in the past. The local river valley creates just the right kind of damp conditions – and connecting up woodlands in this area will help wildlife, which relies on these habitats, to thrive. 

Cornwall Wildlife Trust will only use sites for temperate rainforest restoration where there are limitations for food production, actively avoiding using grade 1 or 2 agricultural land; West Muchlarnick Farm comprises grade 3 and 4.