One of WCSG’s prominent conservation initiatives focuses on the restoration of mangroves and rainforests. Under this program, the society has already successfully restored several mangrove sites, such as Nugaduwa, and rainforest sites, including Kottawa. The selected areas for restoration are degraded and disturbed mangrove sites along the southwest coast and remaining fragments of rainforests in the southwest, impacted by human activities.
For the restoration and replantation efforts, plantlets are obtained from WCSG’s plant nursery located in Hiyare, Galle. The overarching goal of this program is to conserve the invaluable mangrove ecosystems, and protect and ensure connectivity among the remaining rainforest fragments in southwest Sri Lanka.
Plant Nursery
The Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle (WCSG) owns a plant nursery located at our research and education center in Hiyare, Galle. At this facility, we cultivate plantlets of native and prominent tropical rainforest tree species, including Dipterocarpus (Hora), Shorea (Na), Calophyllum walkeri (Kina), Canarium zeylanicum (Kekuna), Artocarpus nobilis (Bedi-del), and Mangifera zeylanica (Atamba). Additionally, we raise plantlets of native mangrove tree species such as Rhizophora, Avicennia, Bruguiera and Sonneratia. Also, currently we maintain around 10,000 plantlets at any given time at our facility.
The primary purpose of maintaining this plant nursery is to provide the necessary plantlets for rainforest and mangrove restoration projects conducted by the society. Furthermore, we extend our support to restoration projects conducted by external organizations by offering plantlets free of charge, encouraging other parties engaged in wildlife conservation programs.