NATURALLY ESTABLISHED, NATIVE forests that support hundreds of our indigenous species make up just 1% of Ireland’s land area, according to the first study to estimate the extent of these important habitats.

The scientist who led the research at Teagasc, the state agriculture and food development authority, said the amount of “high nature value” forestry identified was “disappointingly low”.

High nature value forestry comprises native trees such as oak and birch that have established naturally or semi-naturally. Examples include oak woodland in Killarney, Co Kerry and wet woodland in the Glen of the Downs in Co Wicklow.

Researcher Dr Daire Ó hUallacháin explained that although Ireland’s high nature value forests support hundreds of plants, insects, birds, small mammals, fungi and other species, relatively little was known about the specifics of their extent and distribution – until now.

“We knew the proportion of woodland in the country is small relative to our European counterparts, and we knew that most of the forests that we have are non-native plantations, such as sitka spruce. So we suspected that the amount of HNV forests was going to be fairly small,” Ó hUallacháin said.

However, he said the team was surprised by just how small the amount identified was.

“One percent of the land area – that is disappointingly low,” he said.

High nature value forest was found to make up 8% of Ireland’s total forested area.

Lack of legal protections

The study also found that most of high nature value forest is not designated as protected habitat in law.

To date, most of these forests have been maintained by farmers without financial or policy support from the state, although this is changing.

Ó hUallacháin said it was encouraging that Ireland’s Forestry Programme for 2023 to 2027 includes a native woodland conservation scheme. He said provisions in the EU Nature Restoration Law on supporting biodiversity and on carbon sequestration could also help to support native forestry.

High nature value forestry stores carbon for longer than commercial plantations, which are grown to be felled.

Small pockets

The study also shows that Ireland’s high nature value forest is fragmented into small pockets across the landscape.

Ó hUallacháin said while the first priority must be to support landowners to conserve what is there, the next should be to “improve the quality of what we have and to enhance connectivity”. Connecting habitats helps species to move from one area to another, increasing genetic diversity and providing environmental benefits.

“Now that we have better mapping and better understanding of where these pockets are, there are opportunities, for example, for a kind of green infrastructure mapping, so that you can start targeting measures to link up some of these smaller pockets of woodland,” he said.

The research, published in the journal Land Use Policy, also involved scientists from UCD and from Atlantic Technological University. 

A previous, related study found that 35% of Irish farmland was of high nature value.