Because we’re a social value-driven tree nursery based in prison grounds, we help the community in some unique ways…
- 1, Help for prisoners: Support for rehabilitation, skills and employment prospects
- 2, Help for the environment: Native species, grown using peat-free organic methods, increase local resistance to disease by reducing numbers of imported tree
- 3, Help for the community: Outreach and education through volunteering and workshops
Ordering is simple: contact aisling@ccght.org for latest stock and prices, watch for updates then collect your trees from Magillian Field Centre (or HMP Magilligan for larger orders).
A Tree Nursery With A Difference – How It Works
Magilligan Tree Nursery helps the community through prison rehabilitation, community and environmental benefits.
Since its launch in 2022, the team have insisted on the ecologically responsible growth and distribution of UK and Ireland-sourced trees. This supports the resilience of native trees by reducing the risk of imported trees bringing disease into the local population.
- Unique prison location – Direct engagement with prison inmates means support for rehabilitation through skills development and boosting employment prospects. In addition, the tree nursery offers the opportunity to meaningfully connect with nature in an environment lacking in green space.
- Demonstrable social value – Thanks to unique employment/ skills work, ethical supply chain and well-being activity. Plus, growth and planting of native local provenance trees supports ecological resilience in the face of climate change.
- Responsible production – Using peat-free, organic methods avoiding routine use of herbicides or pesticides. In turn this supports biodiversity and soil health.
- Community outreach and education – Through volunteer experiences and workshops in tree ID and tree seed collection.
Magilligan Tree Nursery was originally established to address the shortage of native trees produced from locally collected seed. Dedicated to producing climate resilient trees adapted to our unique local ecosystems, the tree nursery now blends tree growth with distribution and training activities to maximise its impact.
Email aisling@ccght.org with your enquiry and find our latest updates on Facebook here.
Growing Trees, Changing Lives – A Unique Social Value Partner
We can deliver an ethical partnership for businesses working to improve their impact on society and the environment.
Working with Magilligan Tree Nursery for native tree sourcing – or even as a potential sponsor – brings Environmental, Social, and Governance benefits including:
- Environmental factors – Positive impact on ecological resilience through support for the native tree growth population, plus peat-free, organic methods.
- Social benefits – Help inmate rehabilitation through our prison site skills development.
- Positive community action – Magilligan Tree Nursery workshops and volunteering opportunities mean wellbeing benefits for a wide range of people.
A Natural Choice for Landowners
Farmer and landowners, including those looking for an expert supplier for funding like the Small Woodland Grant Scheme, can access the reassurance of relying on a local specialist:
- An expert team with experience of landowner funding schemes
- Simple, no fuss ordering
- Only UK and Ireland-sourced trees
Plus, every order protects native woodlands by working against disease from imported trees, supports our sustainable planting methods and AND helps criminal justice rehabilitation through our training for prisoners.
Workshop Events and Volunteering
Our tree ID and tree seed collection sessions offer a fascinating experience designed to help people make a real difference to the health and resilience of native trees.
Volunteering opportunities are also available.
Find Out More About Magilligan Tree Nursery
Read here about the early days of Magilligan tree nursery, find details about a visit from Justice Minister Naomi Long and DAERA Minister Andrew Muir here.
Questions? Email aisling@ccght.org and find our latest updates on Facebook here.
Magilligan Tree Nursery FAQs
- How does Magilligan Tree Nursery’s ethos help native trees?
The work addresses a significant shortage of locally sourced trees for planting in Northern Ireland and reduces the reliance on trees imported from Europe as the nursery only grows trees which are UK and Irish sourced and grown. This reduces the likelihood of bringing disease into the local tree population and ensures the ecological resilience of our native trees.
- How are prison inmates involved in the work of the tree nursery?
Magilligan tree nursery is a social enterprise delivered in partnership with The Northern Ireland Prison Service. The project sees CCGHT staff members work directly with a team of prison inmates who assist in the day-to-day tree nursery operations.
Working in the tree nursery forms an important part of inmate rehabilitation, as well as acting as a form of restorative justice, and an opportunity to work and converse with staff who are not prison officers.
- How was Magilligan Tree Nursery established?
The tree nursery started out as a small project in 2021 to supply trees as part of the Binevenagh and Coastal Lowlands Landscape Partnership Scheme, but soon expanded to be a standalone part of the trust, with two full time staff members.
The tree nursery works in partnership with the prison service and received initial funding support of £68,000 from the DAERA Environmental Challenge Fund in August 2022 which helped the nursery establish over one year. The nursery received a further £94,000 in September 2023 to see the work through another 18 months, and within that time, to set the tree nursery up as a trading subsidiary of Causeway Coast & Glens Heritage Trust.
- How does the tree nursery operate?
The tree nursery has three main strands of income, sapling purchase which are lined out and grown on for one or two seasons, seed purchase and the collection of native seeds from sites across Northern Ireland.
Tree seed collections are carried out from July to October, and all seeds are taken back to the prison for processing and extraction of the tree seed.
Fleshy seeds required mashing and washing to extract the seed, such as cherry and rowan, while other such as birch and alder need a period of drying before seeds are stored for winter. Other such as oak can be sown right away once collection but need good protection over the winter from mice!
Workshop events are also available for local groups.
- Which tree species are grown at Magilligan Tree Nursery?
Magilligan tree nursery is a UK and Irish Sourced and grown (UKISG) nursery, an accreditation standard set by the Woodland Trust to ensure all trees and seeds sourced and produced by the nursery have never left the UK or Ireland, and are all trees which are native to these regions.
For stock and price enquiries contact Aisling@ccght.org
Office: Magilligan Field Centre, 375 Seacoast Rd, Limavady BT49 0LF