Illaun Continuous Cover Forestry Project

Native woodlands are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the Irish landscape. A new temperate woodland in Europe can take 100 years to reach similar levels of species richness. Plus, up to 80% of a woodland's plant diversity is found in its understory, which doesn't develop in a new temperate woodland as it does in native woodland.

In summer 2021, we purchased an old plantation forest; on a sixteen-acre out farm near Miltown Malbay, West Clare. The woodland consists of two conifer blocks bisected by a small ash plantation. Typically of much plantation forestry of its era, it has never been managed, and it bears all the hallmarks. Beneath the conifers, the forest is dark and lifeless. No wildflowers, shrubs or herbs exist under the blackout canopy.

The ash trees have been affected by blocked drains, as well as the deadly fungus that casues ash dieback. Some will survive, but most are in their last throes. Luckily, in death, there is always life. Beneath the dying ash, an area of fen peat has come alive with an array of wild plants and even a few naturally regenerated willow trees: meadowsweet, flag iris and giant hogweed hum of insects in the summertime.

Purchasing a commercial spruce forest, a much-maligned habitat these days may seem an unusual step for a charity focused on creating permanent native woodland. We see it differently; we see it as a huge opportunity. Our plan, delivered with expert advice from a registered forester and an ecologist, slowly transforms Illaun into a native woodland.

To manage this area we have chosen to apply Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) at this site. We will start by slowly removing the spruce, row by row. This will allow native trees to thrive in the microclimates we create below. This sheltering effect is significant on the west Clare, scoured as it is by wind and rain. Secondly, having interacted with tree roots for twenty years, the soil under the spruce will be rich in mycorrhizal fungi, a huge benefit to newly establishing native tree.

Of course, we could have purchased a native woodland, but then the work of Hometree, the creation and restoration of ecologically functional native woodland, would already be done. Without wishing to get overly philosophical, we see it as a metaphorical mirror for the modern world we inhabit - damaged but absolutely brimming with potential.