• •Volunteers collected 11 million native seeds by hand across Scotland's endangered Atlantic rainforest habitats.
• •The effort has successfully supported the growth of 8 million new native trees to date.
• •The long-term survival rate of these saplings in changing climate conditions remains a key variable for project success.

Volunteers have manually gathered 11 million seeds from Scotland's Atlantic rainforest, resulting in the propagation of 8 million new native trees. This initiative scales up local reforestation efforts, which previously lacked the workforce to collect such high volumes of diverse genetic material. However, the project faces ongoing friction from invasive species and deer overgrazing that threaten these newly planted areas. Whether these saplings can reach canopy maturity will depend on sustained land management and local protection efforts over the next several decades.