The Thousand Year Trust is the only charity in the UK dedicated to the restoration of our temperate rainforest landscapes. Our name is inspired by the longevity of the Sessile oak, a paramount species in our rainforests. These beautiful trees can take 300 years to grow, can live and thrive for over 400 years and can take 300 years to slowly die, rot and return their goodness to the soil. We believe that if we are truly to heal our natural habitats, we need to think like an oak tree – over a thousand-year timespan.
We're Thousand Year Thinking
Our Vision
Our Mission
Our Purpose
Our Legacy
Temperate Rainforests
Temperate rainforests are ecologically rich and dynamic ecosystems that can be found along the western coasts of the British Isles. These ecosystems are characterised by their mild, oceanic climate, high rainfall, and the abundance of epiphytic plants that grow on other plants.
Figure 1
Britain’s temperate rainforests hold more biodiversity and a greater diversity of life than almost any other terrestrial habitat on our islands
Our rainforests are home to a diverse array of tree species, including ash, birch and most importantly the Sessile Oak whose exposed limbs are often draped in mosses, lichens, and ferns. Fungi also have their space, thriving beneath the mossy canopy. Temperate rainforests are nature’s wonderland; whimsical and vibrant in summer, mist-covered and magical in winter.
Land use changes and deforestation, alongside the impact of non-native invasive species like sheep, deer, and Rhododendron are threatening our precious rainforests by choking their growth and disrupting their delicate ecological balance. Research conducted at the Thousand Year Trust aims to combat these challenges, turn the leaf to find out more.
How You Can Help
Grow with us
Preserve our natural past and ensure a brighter future for our planet with the Thousand Year Trust
Meet the team
Merlin Hanbury-Tenison
Managing Director
The charity’s founder and managing director, Merlin, guides our mission to restore Britain’s rainforests and has been leading the Thousand Year Project, the effort to replant the rainforest in the Cabilla Valley for six years. This project is a demonstration site for all rainforest restorers. It will triple the size of that forest from 100 to 300 acres and restore equilibrium to the species mix found within it while showing how this model can support farming families to stay in their homes.
Ennia & Harrison
Research Co-Directors
Our research directors, Ennia and Harrison, drive strategic research, partnership cultivation, active research projects and science communication. Ennia has spent much of her professional career across leading academic institutions focusing her research on social and ecological aspects of forest landscape restoration. Harrison, starting his career in Investment banking and management consulting, now sits at the cutting edge of research for human-wildlife coexistence through the provision of novel financial mechanisms and the use of interdisciplinary approaches in research. Together, their robust academic foundation and communication skills bridge the gap between scientific research and practical conservation, ensuring that our research is not only rooted in scholarly excellence but also deeply grounded in real-world impact.
Chris Blackford
Chairman & Entrepreneur
Chris was the co-founder and CEO of one of the pioneering start-ups that harnessed drone technology and software for commercial application. Prior to this, he served for 7 years in the British Army with operational tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Chris now works in venture capital and has a deep love for adventure, the outdoors, and, in particular trees. Being in the forest at Cabilla or elsewhere is somewhere of great peace and enjoyment. When asked to be the Chairman for the charity, it was a role that he couldn’t turn down.
Trustees
Samantha Skinner
Nature Restoration Expert
Combining adventure with environmental impact, Sam is a passionate restoration ecologist and natural capital consultant for a large UK Land Agent. From the South Coast to the Scottish Highlands, she advises landowners, developers and investors on all things wild.
Sam fell in love with this unique ecosystem after experiencing the stress of balancing student life with demanding hospitality work during the COVID-19 pandemic, she found solace and recovery in the temperate rainforests of Cabilla Cornwall when she joined the team as Nature Recovery Manager in 2021.
Dr Colin Shaw
Human Evolutionary Ecophysiologist
Dr. Colin Shaw leads the Human Evolutionary Ecophysiology research group in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Dr. Shaw’s group performs experimental research that assesses the effect of exposure to different natural environments on human biology.
Relative to almost all other environments, Atlantic Temperate Rainforest is exceptionally biodiverse – thus, it is an ideal environment within which to conduct experiments designed to determine how different aspects of the natural world impact Homo sapiens physiology.
Sir Tim Smit
Patron
Sir Tim Smit is the Co-founder of Eden Project, Executive Vice Chair of Eden Project Learning and Director of the Lost Gardens of Heligan. His exceptional achievements, dedication to conservation, and innovative approach to environmental stewardship make him the perfect patron for TYT, inspiring and guiding the charity.
Henrietta McIndoe
Corporate Energy Lawyer
Henrietta is a in-house lawyer focussing on corporate and finance matters. She is currently Head of Legal at GRIDSERVE, an electric vehicle charging operator and solar farm operator.
In joining the Board of Trustees of TYT, Henrietta is looking forward to combining her love of nature, installed from growing up in Wales, with the passion and focus on sustainability that her daily work gives her, and supporting the charity’s mission to regenerate Temperate Rainforest.
Guy Shrubsole
Campaigner & Author
Guy Shrubsole is an environmental campaigner and author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain (William Collins, 2022), which won the 2023 Wainwright Prize for writing on conservation.
Guy has previously worked for Friends of the Earth, Rewilding Britain, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, amongst other organisations. He fell in love with temperate rainforests after moving to Devon, and spends his weekends tramping through wet woodlands looking for rare lichens and fungi.
How you can get involved
Collaborate with us
Join us at our rainforest research
centre rooted in the forest
