Plant a young tree in Iceland and see it grow.

Not a symbol – a native sapling on a named Icelandic farm, that you (or someone you love) can watch grow up and one day visit.

Plant a treeGift a tree

See it from above

Yes, Iceland can grow forests

Most people have never seen an Icelandic forest. From the air you can see both sides of the story: bare, eroded land – and the woodland that grows back when it gets the chance.

Filmed from the air in Iceland, August and September 2026.

What we lost

When the forests went, so did a whole world

A thousand years ago, woodland sheltered a third of Iceland. As it was cleared and grazed away, the country lost far more than trees. Here is what disappeared and what we can bring back.

Nowhere left for the animals

When the trees went, so did the homes of the creatures that lived in them. Woodland birds, insects and small animals lost their shelter, their nesting places and their food. A replanted forest is a place for life to move back into, branch by branch, season by season.

A living web, torn thin

A forest is never just trees. It is mosses, fungi, wildflowers, pollinators and the soil life beneath, each depending on the others. Planting native birch, rowan, aspen and willow – never a single-species plantation – begins to weave that web back together.

Work and life for rural communities

The land we plant belongs to Icelandic families, much of it farmed for generations and now standing quiet. Established woodland gives these communities a future again: work in planting and tending, visitors and tourism, better shelter and grazing for sheep, cattle and horses among the trees, and a more resilient kind of farming. Reforestation here is a living given back to people, not land taken from them.

A steadier climate, starting here

The climate crisis is already reshaping the far north. Growing woodland is one of the surest things Iceland can do to help: holding carbon, holding soil, and steadying the land around it. More trees in Iceland is a real contribution to the country's climate goals, and to the wider fight, one forest at a time.

Why reforestation

A forest that has been missing for a thousand years

Around 874

25–40%

of Iceland is covered in birch woodland when the first settlers arrive.

Mid-1900s

<1%

is left after centuries of clearing for fuel and grazing.

Today

~2%

and slowly growing again – one planted tree at a time.

Want the whole story, and a quick quiz? Read Why Iceland

Our founder’s parents on open heathland in Iceland, holding tree-planting tools
Our founder’s parents, planting tools in hand.

Why we do this

It started on one family farm

Our founder, Ólafur Margeirsson, grew up planting trees with his parents at Mælifellsá, the family farm in Skagafjörður in northern Iceland. Over one lifetime the family watched bare, grazed slopes turn into woodland full of birds.

Reforest Iceland exists to do the same on more Icelandic farms, together with the families who own the land. When you plant a tree with us, you become part of that story.

Meet the team

Our experience

See the change for yourself

Land at Mælifellsá went from open, largely treeless ground in 2000 to established woodland by 2023. This is what we do – and how we prove it.

See how we work
Aerial view of Mælifellsá, Skagafjörður, Iceland in 2023 – established woodland Aerial view of Mælifellsá, Skagafjörður, Iceland in 2000 – open, largely treeless land
‹ ›
2000 2023

Where we plant

Real places you can visit

Your tree goes into the ground on a named Icelandic farm, planted by our local team. This is where it all happens.

Three of the Reforest Iceland team on the heath at Fagrabrekka, holding planting tools and a tray of saplings, September 2026
Planting now

Fagrabrekka

North-west Iceland

Open, degraded heathland, treeless to the horizon. In September 2026 we planted our first 120 young native trees here – downy birch and rowan, the trees that once covered Iceland.

Read about the first planting
Established woodland with a grass path at Mælifellsá, Skagafjörður, Iceland, July 2026
Where it began

Mælifellsá

Skagafjörður, northern Iceland

Our founder’s family farm. Largely treeless in 2000, woodland today – the proof of what Icelandic land can become when it is given time.

See how we work

Plant with us

Why plant a tree in Iceland with us?

There are many reasons to grow a forest in Iceland

Established birch and conifer woodland with a grass path at Mælifellsá, Skagafjörður, Iceland, July 2026

To bring a lost forest back

When settlers arrived around 900 AD, forests covered 25–40% of Iceland. Today it is about 2%. Every tree you plant helps rebuild a woodland that has been missing for a thousand years.

Three people beside an ATV in a young larch wood in spring, with snow-capped mountains behind, Iceland

To give rural communities a future

We plant on the land of Icelandic farmers, much of it dormant former grazing land. Reforestation brings new life, income and purpose back to the families who live there.

Young trees establishing on open, eroding moorland at Mælifellsá, Skagafjörður, Iceland, July 2026

To heal Iceland's eroding land

Iceland is a 'wet desert': about two-thirds of the country suffers moderate to severe soil erosion. Tree roots hold the ground, capture water and slowly bring dead land back to life.

Rowan trees in blossom in an Icelandic wood

To welcome the wildlife home

We plant native birch, rowan, aspen and willow – never monocultures – so the birds, insects and fungi return with the trees. Biodiversity matters to us as much as carbon.

Young woodland on a hillside above a rocky river gorge in Iceland

To pull carbon from the sky

Growing forests draw carbon from the air and lock it into wood and soil – a real, documented contribution to Iceland's climate goals, tracked tree by tree.

A person walking among young planted trees on open land at Mælifellsá, Skagafjörður, Iceland, May 2026

To watch your own trees grow

These are real trees in a real place you can visit. Plant them yourself or follow their progress with photo updates through the year – proof most schemes cannot offer.

Support the forest

Plant native trees in Iceland

Choose a one-off contribution, or give a little every month or year. Every tree is a native birch, willow or rowan, planted on Icelandic land with local people.

One-off · pay once

Sapling

1 native tree

Sponsor one tree to help rebuild Iceland’s woods. Every little helps.

€14

One-off payment, no subscription

Plant a tree
€14 / tree
Subscription · cancel anytime

Copses★

5 trees every year

Sponsor the recovery of the Icelandic woods for the price of one coffee a month.

€3.75 / month (charged annually)

or €4.50 / month if paid monthly

Monthly€45 / year
€10.8 / tree€9 / tree
Subscription · cancel anytime

Woodlands★

10 trees every year

Ten native trees a year. The redwings and the ptarmigans thank you.

€7.08 / month (charged annually)

or €8.50 / month if paid monthly

MonthlyMost impact per euro€85 / year
€10.2 / tree€8.5 / tree

★ Come and visit the trees. These are real trees in a real place. As a subscriber you’re welcome to visit the woodland in Iceland – and even plant the trees yourself!

Giving trees as a present? See our gifts: a personal certificate with your dedication, from €14. Planting a whole grove? Get in touch.

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