We’re calling upon individuals and businesses throughout the National and International Irish Community to create a commemorative biodiverse woodland in Ireland. The planting is funded by the Native Woodland Scheme Grant so we use 100% of donations to buy land.
Designed and maintained with the help of Registered Foresters, this site will be an oasis of native flora and managed to welcome wildlife. It will never be cut down for commercial gain; tree thinnings will be left on the ground to become a home for decomposers and fungi.
We will work with landowners to enhance their hedgerows and create new community woodlands as a part of an expanding network of green corridors to link our woodland to existing natural sites: exponentially increasing biodiversity and habitat. This will help tackle Ireland’s carbon emission deficit by increasing carbon sequestration in broadleaf forestry: an Irish Oak can support up to 400 species and sequester 10 tonnes of carbon in its 1000-year life.
We’re grateful for our patrons’ support; as a reclamation of ancestral roots, we’re happy to offer them their own 21-year licensed plot of the woodland. This is their family plot that can be renewed in 21-year intervals: facilitating inter-generational cooperation and expansion. This will undoubtedly strengthen the inter-connectivity of the Irish Community for generations to come.
Once we purchase the site we will proliferate a campaign worldwide and ask members of the Diaspora to share their family story. These thus far unrecorded histories will be published in the Irish Immrama Archive and the woodland will be named after one of these Irish Emigrants.
This central woodland will be the flagship of our operation. We will work with other inter-disciplinary agencies to maximise the ecological potential of this new 50-acre natural site.
When it is responsible to do so, we will open the woodland to the public. A commemorative standing stone will be placed at its centre in 2045 on the 200-year anniversary of the Great Famine.
This is an inclusive, community-centric operation; we are happy to work with anyone who shares our vision of a wilder, greener Ireland. We will simultaneously promote and share Irish tales, language, music, lore, crafts and encourage nationwide rewilding as we manifest the idea of a wild Ireland that is rarely experienced.