Native Tree Planting

The Wicklow Mountains National Park is Ireland’s largest national park with a size of 20,043 hectares. Upland blanket bog and heath cover the upland slopes and rounded peaks with native woodland and fast-flowing streams in the valleys. The park is managed by rangers of the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

In addition to a peatland restoration project, our volunteers are also supporting native tree planting all across the park. This ranges from big deer-proof enclosures on the slopes of Derrybawn mountain to individually-protected trees along gullies around the Wicklow Gap.

We have helped plant native alder, birch, rowan and oak. We also funded 500 Scots pine, propagated from an ancient native stand discovered in the Burren in Clare. It was thought that native Irish Scots pine had become extinct during a massive population decline throughout Europe about 2,000 years ago. It was replanted from Scottish stock but an exciting study of this small population in the Rockforest in the Burren has proved that these are original native trees. These trees would have once covered all the upper slopes of the Wicklow Mountains and we're delighted to be returning them to their former range. 

You can be involved in supporting this project by purchasing a tree certificate as a gift for any occasion here.

Find out more about the Wicklow Mountains National Park here.

 

Join our volunteer list