#The long dark full map how to

ItвЂ™s clearly touched a nerve, and IвЂ™m glad because for me thereвЂ™s always this double take: вЂњA rainforest? In Britain? What?вЂќ IвЂ™ve been signed up by a publisher to write a book on BritainвЂ™s lost rainforests now, too. IвЂ™ve had more contributions than I can possibly deal with. It all helps to build up the bigger picture. If youвЂ™ve got photos, email them over or tweet them to me. If you think youвЂ™ve seen an area of temperate rainforest in Britain, then you can go to the Lost Rainforest of Britain website and fill in the google form. So why not start by asking people: have you seen evidence of rainforest in your local area? I set up a google map on the Lost Rainforests of Britain website and started crowdsourcing peopleвЂ™s suggestions, locations, and photographs. ThereвЂ™s some great work thatвЂ™s been done by organizations such as the Woodland Trust, but no oneвЂ™s produced a comprehensive map. Temperate rainforests are threatened internationally, and I thought, we have this amazing habitat and the potential for much more to regenerate, so why hasnвЂ™t anyone ever mapped it? How does your mapping project work, and how can people get involved? Britain has a globally significant habitat of temperate rainforests, and because weвЂ™re so wet and rainy, Britain is the best place in Europe for them. IвЂ™ve been an environmental campaigner for most of my working life, and when I moved to Devon, in southwest England, I was lucky enough to see these natural habitats firsthand. What inspired you to advocate for BritainвЂ™s rainforests? Beefsteak fungus growing in a temperate rainforest in Wales. We still had more of these rainforests up until recent times, but when the Forestry Commission was formed in the early 20th century, it decided to fell old ancient woodland and planted conifers instead. WhatвЂ™s more tragic is what has happened in recent decades. Temperate rainforests would have been felled as long ago as the Bronze Age to clear space for farming. Lots of it was lost a long time ago, unfortunately, but up to 20 percent of Britain could have been wet enough to support rainforests-thatвЂ™s huge! To give some context, today we only have around 13 percent of woodland cover left in Britain, and less than 1 percent of that is temperate rainforest.

How extensive were temperate rainforests in BritainвЂ™s past?Д«ritainвЂ™s temperate rainforests are generally found on the western edge, where itвЂ™s wettest and where we get the Atlantic gales blowing in from the ocean. There are also many species of rare lichen, moss, and lungwort, and these epiphytes, in turn, support a massive amount of biodiversity when they grow on ancient oak and other woodland trees. BritainвЂ™s temperate rainforests are incredibly rich in ferns, including polypody ferns which grow along the branches of trees. Because itвЂ™s wet enough, they simply use trees and branches as structures on which to grow. But in places where itвЂ™s mild enough and wet enough for plants called epiphytes to grow on other plants-places like Britain, New Zealand, and British Columbia-then we also have temperate rainforests.Д®piphytes are not parasitic. We think of parrots, toucans, and the Amazon. When we hear the word вЂњrainforestвЂќ we think of tropical rainforests.

What exactly is a вЂњtemperate rainforest,вЂќ and where can they be found? Environmental advocate Guy Shrubsole, pictured here in WistmanвЂ™s Wood in England, has launched a crowdsourced effort to map BritainвЂ™s endangered woodlands. So Shrubsole, using crowdsourced information collected through his Lost Rainforests of Britain website, has begun plotting BritainвЂ™s first comprehensive rainforest map.ДЄtlas Obscura spoke to Shrubsole about his rainforest wanderings, rare moss and curious ferns, and how a crowdsourced mapping project can help save BritainвЂ™s ancient woodlands from destruction.

#The long dark full map how to

Woodland conservationists consider the few fragments of ancient temperate rainforests that survive in Britain to be in more danger than their tropical counterparts, says Shrubsole, who describes himself as a вЂњvery amateur, but very enthusiastic naturalist.вЂќ вЂњKnowing where the rainforests are is a crucial part of knowing how to save them,вЂќ he says.

Fed by fierce gales, intense rainfall, and high levels of humidity, BritainвЂ™s Atlantic coast was once home to vast swathes of woodland known as вЂњtemperate rainforests,вЂќ and is now the unlikely location for ShrubsoleвЂ™s ambitious conservation project. Guy Shrubsole is on a mission to map one of the worldвЂ™s most endangered rainforests-a moss- and mist-shrouded stretch of ancient oak, pine, birch, and ash along the western shores of Britain.