About

Our Story

Watch our video talking about the early days of our project and the new goal we’ve set to plant 100,000 Giant Sequoia’s in a network of forests in the UK.

Giant Sequoias in the UK

A little background as to why we are planting this magnificent tree species in the UK.
Planting Days

Find out about how you and your crew can come and roll your sleeves up and plant your own Sequoias as part of one of our planting days.
Our planet's largest tree

The Giant Sequoia - our planet’s largest tree, can play a big role in carbon capture in the fight against climate change.
Durability

Durability - a key component to effective carbon offsetting as highlighted by the Oxford Offsetting Principles, particularly when it comes to trees. What use is a carbon offset if the trees planted are cut down and wood is used for timber production (typically resulting in a 50% loss at sawmill), or worse yet, used for firewood?

Our approach puts durability at the top of our priority list. Giant Sequoias can live for over 3000 years, meaning the carbon they store is locked up for a millennia or more.

Our job at The Great Reserve is to plant and protect them for their natural lifetime, making sure the carbon offsets bought by our carbon buyers lasts the distance of time.
Biodiversity

How while planting Sequoias for species protection we also improve the biodiversity of our sites.
Verification

Verification is critical to all nature based carbon offsets, and here we share our views on the subject and offer our low tech / high tech approach to bring confidence to our carbon buyers.
Additionality

Making sure we only count the carbon that is ultra durable, and additional to any other land use that may have occured at our sites.
Sequoia Tree Protection

Here we share how we intend to protect our Giant Sequoias for their natural lifetime, which can be a millenia or more!

The Great Reserve working with the *Archangel Ancient Tree Archive*.

The Archangel team are the world’s leading experts on Giant Sequoias. Our partnership with David Milarch and his team in the US is explained in an interview on FOX NEWS.

Planting Redwoods — Our intention from day one has been to deliver the greatest possible impact for the planet.

As our project has grown we’ve opened our doors to individuals and businesses looking for a more meaningful, U.K. based, durable carbon solution. The Great Reserve is underpinned by 3 core principles.

CORE PRINCIPLES

PLANT

Creating Giant Sequoia groves with a
mix of native trees and other conifers at selected UK locations, maximising the volume of standing timber while promoting biodiversity
PROTECT

Nurturing our trees to maturity to deliver long term carbon banking. The Great Reserve takes ownership of our groves to protect the Sequoias for their extensive lifetimes
VERIFY

Quantifying the withdrawal of carbon
on a tracked per tree basis, using external auditors to verify our register of allocated carbon and site performance

MEET THE TEAM

Henry Emson

Founder
The Great Reserve began with me planting Giant Sequoias for my two young children, starting their journey to a carbon neutral life as early as possible.
Concerned about the global climate crisis and the scale of the action needed I wanted to offer planting Sequoia trees to others, to become part of the solution rather than the problem.
We’ve now set a course to plant 100,000 Giant Sequoias in the UK to replicate what few are left in the US, creating a new safe haven for them via assisted migration, helping them to thrive for generations to come.
Jill Faircloth

Director
I came to join the project convinced that Giant Sequoias could and should play an important role in tackling climate change. I was lucky enough to live for a short time in California and walk through forests of colossal Sequoias. It’s a genuinely awe inspiring experience. I know that these majestic trees can capture carbon at a rate that far exceeds our native trees which makes them incredible partners in positive change. Sadly, I also know that the species is under threat in its native Sierra Nevada and we need to safeguard these beautiful and remarkable giants. I’m delighted to be a part of the team and hope to welcome many others to our project and mission.
Bryan Elliot

Head of Forestry
Bryan is a member of Institute of Chartered Foresters, Forest Industry Safety Accord (FISA), Confederation of Forest Industries (Confor) and the Royal Forestry Society.
Bryan brings over 35 years of expertise to the project, making sure that we make the right decisions for our sapling Sequoias, the natural environment, and the long term success of our groves.
During his career, Bryan has held various responsibilities and offices in the industry. Until recently the regional Chairman of the Royal Forestry Society and currently a committee member and divisional member of the National Council. A committee member within CONFOR and seconded as Chair of the Dartmoor Woodland Advisory Group to the Dartmoor National Park.
Bob Yeager

Director
Bob joined the team as someone who had been directly impacted by the recent wildfires that took hold in Sequoia National Park. He was part of the Sequoia Crest community and was one of the home owners that lost their property to the fires, as well as witnessing the loss of some treasured old growth Giant Sequoias that were destroyed. Bob helped recover the area by leading a replanting initiative in the area, sourcing sequoia saplings from Daid Milarch and his team at The Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.
Joseph French

Forest Ops
Joe came to us initially as a volunteer to help us plant Sequoias in the early days across our first groves. We all hit it off immediately and he has been able to bring his extensive experience in events and project management to our operation. Under the stewardship of Bryan Elliot he has embraced the forestry lifestyle.
Joe is a committed environmentalist, ever mindful of ways our project and methods can be improved for a brighter future.