Thoughts on Recent Developments in Irish Forestry

We have been asked a lot in the last week to respond to the news regarding Coillte's re-entrance to the forestry creation space. It is a big story and there is nuance and complexity involved, but essentially it will see the semi-state forestry company Coillte facilitate the purchase of 123,000 acres of land in Ireland on behalf of international investment funds.

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European Recognition and SIMA Innovation Awards

Early this November Hometree Charity received European recognition SIMA Farming award for Environmental Innovation in Paris. This was a huge moment for us! We received this award for our Farm-Forest Project. This project aims to preserve the environment, connect and help farmers introduce tree systems onto their productive farms as part of a European Program funded by the Department of Agriculture.

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AwardsBaiba ŠustereIllaun, EIP
Ireland’s Temperate Rainforests: What Makes a Woodland a Rainforest? by Dr Rory Hodd

When the word ‘rainforest’ is mentioned, it immediately conjures up an image of humid tropical jungles far from home, burgeoning with a dizzying abundance of life in all its forms and with an air of danger and otherness. In a temperate north-western European context, our peatlands have sometimes been referred to as the miniature, northern, version of the rainforest, but in fact Ireland is home to a habitat that ticks most of the boxes to be called a genuine rainforest.

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Autumn Experience Week, 2022

The purpose of the Autumn Experience Week, same as it was for the Spring Experience Week, was to find a way to bring people into the fold of Hometree in a physical way, to get hands on experience but also have time with the staff and each other. It has been said we know exactly what we need to do to protect the environment, but for some reasons it is not happening.

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June Field Report, 2022

In a world with so many complex systems and information available in so many forms, I feel blessed to do my work; it keeps me grounded in action. I see a lot of positive impacts, both on the human community where we have sites but so much impact on the lands that we work in and own.

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30,000 Native Trees Across 11 Farms

Hometree’s EIP is the Illaun Farm-Forest Alliance, and it will foster an alliance between landowners committed to enhancing on-farm biodiversity throughout the Glendine Valley in County Clare. In this video Matt Smith, general manager and co-founder of Hometree, talks about the benefits these woodlands will offer to the farmlands taking part in the Illaun Farm-Forest Alliance project.

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Spring Volunteer Retreat Week, 2022

Earlier this Spring, March 14 - 21, Hometree hosted the Spring Volunteer Retreat Week. This week was a lovely example that showed the dedication of Irish people to engage and learn about the environment and how to protect and regenerate it. Volunteers and Hometree staff met on Monday morning; we had some time to get to know each other, learn about why we are all there and what we hoped to get out of the week.

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