Wild Atlantic Rainforest Project: January Update

Last autumn we launched The Wild Atlantic Rainforest Restoration Project. This project seeks to restore temperate rainforests (learn more: What Makes a Woodland a Rainforest?) through three primary strategies: facilitating natural regeneration by removing grazing pressure, fencing off remnant pockets of forest to allow for their expansion, and planting trees where there is a strong ecological rationale to do so.

Now the Rainforest Project is moving onto its next phase. We visited a new site in Sligo last week. It had beautiful pockets of old hazel woodland amongst banks of blanket peat. The potential is huge. Our site in Galway has had its preliminary ecological assessment completed. The results are intriguing. Essentially there are a whole mosaic of habitats present but all are suppressed by the decades of extensive grazing.

One of the species found growing on bare stone was the Wilsons Filmy fern. This fern is a specialist of wet climates and is always a treat to find in its usual woodland habitat. Its presence in Maam is a positive sign the woodlands that will return here will be rich in oceanic biodiversity.

Wilsons Filmy Fern

The Rainforest Project is in many ways Hometrees moonshot. It is bigger and more ambitious than anything we have done before. We are borrowing money to make it happen. As we have chosen not to sell carbon, many businesses can’t find a way to support us at the ambition level required.

Until that changes, we will continue to work with those who have always been the backbone of our support the public and Irish SME’s

The Rainforest ACRES options has been doing really well, with businesses like Corks Good Day Deli, Keeper Solutions in Tipperary and visual artist John Gerrard all partaking. This scheme allows businesses or individuals support one acre of Rainforest site purchase restoration for €5000.

The Wild Atlantic Rainforest Restoration Project is the first of its kind. Until now, all Hometree’s woodland creation sites have been made possible by grassroots contributions. This scale of this undertaking will require a broader network of public, private, and corporate partners. Temperate rainforests resonate strongly with the public. We believe the impact of this project and the commitment of its supporters will be heard about in every home in Ireland.