Derrygorry Woodland Site/The People’s Millennium Forest

 

After the end of the ice-age, about 10,000 years ago, woodlands began to form in Ireland. At first juniper and birch started to cover the land and this was followed with hazel and Scots-pine. Around 8,000 years ago, when conditions allowed, oak and elm started to expand. Woodlands of oak, ash, Scots-pine, alder and elm developed throughout Ireland from 7,000 to 5,500 years ago and the country was covered in a rich tapestry of woodland at that time. 

 

From this time man has hindered the natural development of woodland by felling trees for timber and clearing the land for agricultural use. The first farmers had to create patches of open ground in which to sow crops. They felled and burnt small areas of woodland, grew crops for several years and abandoned each patch when the soil was exhausted, moving to another piece of woodland and repeating the process. The plough is thought to have arrived in Ireland about 2,600 years ago and this was followed by a substantial decline of woodlands.

 

Up to 400 years ago native forests may have covered up to one-sixth of Ireland and the final phase of woodland felling began in the 17th century. By 1800 less than two per cent of Ireland was covered by native woodland. The situation has improved a lot over the last century, especially with the reforestation of up to 9% of the land with mainly non-native coniferous trees. Nonetheless, Ireland today still stands as one of the least wooded countries in Europe. 

 

A true native Irish tree is one that was here before man arrived. The pollen of these trees has been found preserved in peat laid down before human settlement. Because native trees have been around for so long, they play a very important role in regulating the cycles of nature and in maintaining the ecological balance of these ecosystems, complete with a vast array of resident plants and animals. Native woodlands support many more creatures and organisms than non-native trees do, since organisms have adapted to live in native woodlands over thousands of years. 

 

We also have many naturalised trees here in Ireland. These are trees that were brought in and planted by man for pleasure, gardening or forestry. Familiar trees such as beech, sycamore, chestnut and hornbeam are not native Irish trees even though they have been happily growing in many parts of the country for hundreds of years. 

 

In Ireland, many native woodland are currently under threat, principally from the invasion of non-native species, especially rhododendron, laurel, beech, sycamore and spruce. They are also threatened by overgrazing from deer, sheep, cattle, rabbits and hares, all of which relish young broadleaf saplings. These factors prevent the natural regeneration of woodlands and hence threaten their very existence. The whole woodland ecosystem must be maintained in order to conserve its many inhabitants. Action is required to control all these threats and to secure the long-term future of affected native woodlands. These include fencing out grazing animals, removing non-native invasive trees and shrubs and encouraging natural regeneration, supplemented by the planting of locally-derived native trees and shrubs. The Millennium project encompasses all these activities within the woodland sites selected.

 

The People's Millennium Forests is a flagship project of the National Millennium Committee that is designed to ignite the interest of all Irish people in the rescue and restoration of our native woodlands. It has a number of unique elements. More than 1.2 million native Irish broadleaf trees were planted - one in the name of every household in the country. The households received by post a certificate telling them in which of the 14 specially designated forests their individual tree was planted.  It also gave the number of the tree and its actual location. The £5 million project, sponsored by the National Millennium Committee and AIB Bank and managed by Coillte in partnership with the Woodlands of Ireland group, was the largest ever undertaken in Ireland to restore Irish woodlands with native species. Fifteen hundred acres of native Irish woodlands were designated as the 14 People's Millennium Forests in which the 1.2 million trees were planted.  The project included forests that were being extended to include newly planted areas and existing native woodlands, under threat of extinction, have been replanted.  The native trees set were oak, ash, birch, alder, hazel, yew and Scots-pine.

 

Careful conservation work was carried out at eight ancient native woodlands around Ireland allowing these precious forests to regenerate themselves.  In addition, planting these new forests, combined with the conservation of existing forests and educating the next generation about the value of our native forests, enabled us to leave a valuable and lasting legacy for future generations.

 

The project was designed to evolve and develop in harmony with nature.  It began in Autumn 2000 when communities across the country collected seeds from native woodlands which produced the trees that were planted.  Almost all of the forests are located on old native broadleaf woodland sites and six of them are within National Heritage Areas. One such forest is Derrygorry/Favour Royal.