Native Woodlands Ireland – Why Just 2% of the Country Is Covered and What Recovery Looks Like

Native woodlands Ireland is a story of dramatic loss and cautious recovery. Ireland has one of the lowest rates of native forest cover in Europe. While total forest cover stands at approximately 11% of the land area – around 770,000 hectares – native and long-established woodland accounts for only about 2%, roughly 140,000 hectares. The rest is overwhelmingly commercial plantation, with over half consisting of a single non-native species: Sitka spruce. This guide explores how Ireland lost its native woodland, why the distinction between plantation and native forest matters for biodiversity, and what is being done to restore native tree cover across the country.

The gap between Ireland’s forest cover figure and its native woodland figure is one of the most important numbers in Irish environmental policy. A country can have extensive forests and still have almost no native woodland – and that is precisely Ireland’s situation. The ecological, carbon and biodiversity value of native oak-birch woodland on mineral soil is fundamentally different from that of a dense Sitka spruce plantation on drained blanket bog, and understanding that distinction is essential to evaluating Ireland’s true relationship with its trees.

🌳 How Ireland Lost Its Forests

Ireland was once heavily forested. Pollen records show that after the last ice age, woodland spread across most of the country, with species composition varying by soil, altitude and climate. Oak, elm, hazel, birch, Scots pine, ash, alder, willow and yew formed diverse canopies across different landscapes. Clearance began in the Neolithic period for agriculture but accelerated dramatically from the medieval period onwards.

By the time of the great Elizabethan and Cromwellian plantations, Ireland’s forests were being felled on an industrial scale for shipbuilding, barrel-making, iron smelting and export. Estate woodlands were managed for timber, but the broader landscape was progressively stripped. By 1900, forest cover in Ireland had fallen to approximately 1% of the land area – one of the most deforested countries in Europe. What survived did so largely in inaccessible locations: steep valleys, island lakeshores, rocky ground unsuitable for agriculture.

The 20th century brought reforestation, but not with native species. From the 1950s onwards, state-supported afforestation focused almost exclusively on fast-growing conifers – particularly Sitka spruce, a species native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Sitka was chosen for its rapid growth in Ireland’s wet climate and its value as a commercial timber crop. Vast areas of blanket bog, heath and marginal farmland were drained, ploughed and planted with dense conifer monocultures. By the 2020s, Sitka spruce accounted for over 52% of Ireland’s total forest area.

🐦 Why Native Woodland Matters

The biodiversity difference between native woodland and conifer plantation is stark. Native Irish woodlands support orders of magnitude more species across virtually every taxonomic group. The canopy of a native oak or hazel allows light to reach the forest floor, supporting a rich understorey of wildflowers, ferns, mosses and fungi. Dead wood in various stages of decay provides habitat for hundreds of invertebrate species, which in turn feed birds and mammals.

Key wildlife species associated with native woodland include the pine marten (whose recovery has been one of Ireland’s conservation success stories), red squirrel, badger, long-eared owl, jay, treecreeper and woodcock. The Killarney oakwoods, Ireland’s oldest and most extensive native woodland, support internationally important communities of lichens, bryophytes and fungi that are found nowhere else in Ireland. Native woodland along rivers and streams – known as riparian woodland – provides shade that keeps water temperatures suitable for salmon and trout, stabilises banks against erosion and filters agricultural nutrients before they enter waterways, benefiting water quality.

Dense Sitka spruce plantations, by contrast, create a dark, acidic environment beneath the canopy where very little else can grow. The uniform structure, absence of understorey, lack of dead wood and limited light penetration mean that commercial conifer plantations support a fraction of the biodiversity found in native woodland. Where these plantations were established on former peatland, the damage extends to the underlying habitat itself.

🗺️ Types of Native Woodland

Ireland’s native woodlands are classified into several broad types based on their dominant species and the soil conditions that shape them.

Oak-birch-holly woodland is the classic native woodland of acid soils, found on hillsides and well-drained mineral ground. Sessile oak dominates with downy birch, holly, rowan and occasional Scots pine. The Killarney oakwoods and woodland remnants in Wicklow, Donegal and Galway are of this type.

Oak-ash-hazel woodland occurs on richer, more alkaline soils, typically limestone. These tend to be species-rich with a diverse ground flora including wood anemone, primrose, wild garlic and bluebell. The Burren area of Clare and sites in the midlands retain fragments of this type.

Wet willow-alder-ash woodland occurs in floodplains, along rivers and in poorly drained areas. Alder and willow dominate, often with ash. These woodlands are important for flood attenuation and riparian habitat but are among the most depleted types in Ireland.

Yew woodland is one of Ireland’s rarest and most remarkable habitats. The yew woodland at Reenadinna in Killarney National Park is one of the finest examples in Europe, with ancient trees growing on limestone pavement above the shores of Muckross Lake.

Atlantic hazel woodland is found in the west, particularly in the Burren, where hazel grows as a canopy species rather than in the understorey role it takes in most other woodland types. These open hazel woodlands are rich in lichens and bryophytes.

🏛️ Key Sites

The Killarney oakwoods are the flagship of Irish native woodland. Covering several thousand hectares in and around Killarney National Park, they represent the oldest continuous area of native woodland in the country. The oak-holly woodland at Derrycunnihy, Tomies and the Old Kenmare Road has been woodland for thousands of years, supporting communities of Atlantic lichens and mosses of international importance.

Other significant sites include Glendalough in Wicklow, where native oak woodland clings to the steep valley sides; Brackloon Wood in Mayo, one of the most studied native woodlands in Ireland; Charleville Wood in Offaly, an ancient oak woodland now in the care of Butterfly Conservation Ireland; and the Glen of the Downs in Wicklow, an oak woodland nature reserve along the N11 corridor. Derreen and Uragh in Kerry contain impressive old-growth native woodland with tree ferns and lush understorey in the mild Atlantic climate.

🌱 Restoration and Planting Schemes

Native Tree Area Scheme (NTAS)

The NTAS is a DAFM scheme specifically designed for smaller-scale native woodland creation. It supports planting of small native forests up to two hectares, without requiring an afforestation licence, making the application process significantly faster and simpler than traditional forestry schemes. The scheme supports two tracks: NTA1 for biodiversity and climate benefits on farmland, and NTA2 for native forests along watercourses to protect aquatic ecosystems. By mid-2025, 128 NTAS licences had been issued covering 140 hectares.

Native Woodland Conservation Scheme (NWC)

The NWC scheme, relaunched in February 2024 under the Forestry Programme 2023-2027, provides financial support to forest owners for restoring existing native woodland through appropriate management interventions. This includes invasive species removal, thinning to promote native canopy species, and protecting regeneration from deer. Accredited foresters and ecologists deliver the work under DAFM supervision.

Climate Resilient Reforestation Scheme (CRR)

Launched in July 2024, the CRR supports forest owners in adopting diverse and sustainable management practices when reforesting harvested sites. It provides three pathways: Continuous Cover Forestry (maintaining permanent canopy cover rather than clear-felling), native forest creation, and biodiversity and water protection zones. The scheme encourages a shift away from the clear-fell and replant cycle that has characterised Irish commercial forestry.

Woodland Environmental Fund

The updated Woodland Environmental Fund allows businesses to pay landowners €1,000 per hectare for planting native woodland, supplementing DAFM grants. This creates a mechanism for corporate investment in native woodland expansion and gives participating businesses a tangible link to nature restoration.

📈 Afforestation Trends

Ireland’s afforestation rate has been well below government targets for years, but 2025 showed improvement. DAFM confirmed that 2,527 hectares were planted during the year, up significantly from 1,573 hectares in 2024 and 1,652 hectares in 2023. The increase was driven partly by improved licensing processes and partly by the uptake of native woodland schemes. Broadleaved forest area increased by 17% between 2012 and 2021 according to CSO ecosystem accounts, while coniferous forest grew by just 2% over the same period – a signal that the composition of Irish forestry is gradually shifting.

However, these figures remain well below the levels needed to meet Ireland’s climate targets or to make a meaningful dent in native woodland cover. The Forestry Programme 2023-2027 set ambitious targets for native woodland planting, but uptake has been constrained by slow licensing, landowner hesitancy, competing land use pressures and the perception that forestry represents a permanent change in land use.

🔄 Continuous Cover Forestry

One of the most significant shifts in Irish forestry policy is the move towards Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF). Rather than clear-felling entire plantation blocks and replanting, CCF maintains permanent canopy cover through selective harvesting, thinning and natural regeneration. This approach promotes structural diversity, mixed species composition and a more natural woodland ecosystem while still producing timber. The Climate Resilient Reforestation Scheme provides specific support for CCF, and Coillte has committed to increasing the proportion of its estate managed under CCF principles.

🌍 The Bigger Picture

Native woodland restoration is not just about trees. It is about rebuilding functional ecosystems that deliver multiple benefits: carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, water quality protection, soil stabilisation, recreation and habitat for the species that depend on woodland. Temperate broadleaved woodland sequesters approximately four to eight tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year during active growth, and the soil beneath native woodland stores significantly more carbon than that under pasture or plantation.

Ireland’s native woodland challenge connects directly to the broader rewilding debate. In many areas, the most effective way to restore native woodland is not to plant trees but to remove the pressures – primarily deer grazing – that prevent natural regeneration. Where seed sources exist and browsing pressure is reduced, native woodland can re-establish itself without planting, often producing more diverse and resilient ecosystems than planted woodland.

The 2% figure for native woodland cover is a measure of how far Ireland has fallen from its ecological baseline. The recovery will be measured in decades, not years. But with native woodland planting rates increasing, new schemes making it easier for landowners to participate, and a growing understanding that Ireland’s future forests need to look fundamentally different from its current plantations, the direction of travel is clear – even if the pace still falls short of what the climate and biodiversity crises demand.