Uisce Éireann improving water quality and promoting biodiversity with native woodland planting

Ireland’s biodiversity is at crisis levels and, unfortunately, we are all too familiar with stories of species in decline and habitat loss, writes David Fallon, Biodiversity Lead, Uisce Éireann.

Ireland was once cloaked in a blanket of native woodland that stretched from coast to coast (some estimates show that we had up to 80% native woodland cover) but over time our woodlands disappeared to the point that native woodlands now cover less than 2% of the country.

Uisce Éireann is responsible for providing clean drinking water and the treatment of wastewater for Ireland. Sustainability is at the core of everything we do, and we are committed to rising to the challenge of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Across Ireland we are responsible for operating and maintaining over 4,500 sites of varying sizes. This includes infrastructure that is located within a range of habitats such as species-rich grassland, woodland, scrub and wetlands, and our infrastructure interacts directly with freshwater, estuarine and marine habitats. In 2021 we published our biodiversity action plan where we committed to supporting biodiversity across all of our sites and we started surveying our assets and selecting suitable sites for the establishment of native woodlands.

Woodlands support a wide range of species and play a key role in enhancing biodiversity.

To date, Uisce Éireann, in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) and Greenbelt Forestry Ltd, has established native woodland on 35 of our sites, with 121,000 trees planted across the country. These woodlands vary in size from 6 hectares to 0.3 hectares using a diverse mix of native trees that are selected to suit the local soil and environmental conditions.

The work began in 2022 with the planting of one site, using the ‘Woodlands for Water’ DAFM scheme. However since then we have mainly been using the ‘Creation of Woodland on Public land’ DAFM scheme. Native woodlands are a great example of nature-based solutions where the woodlands will improve water quality, enhance biodiversity and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

With each site having different environmental conditions, a number of different woodland types will develop, and it will be exciting to see these woodlands develop over time with woodland types ranging from Pedunculate Oak and Hazel woodland to Birch woodland and even alluvial woodland which is a rare habitat in Ireland.

Riparian woodlands are of particular interest when we are looking at improving water quality. These are forested areas located near bodies of water such as rivers or streams, and these linear shaped habitats help to link up other habitats which allow a range of birds and mammals to move safely through the landscape.

Establishing woodlands is not as simple as just planting trees and walking away however. Uisce Éireann, with our forestry contractors Greenbelt, ensures that the trees are protected from hares and deer, with any dead trees being replaced within the first few years.
Our silvicultural approach to woodland establishment is different to the approach taken when establishing the majority of forests in Ireland where our number one objective is to establish woodlands for biodiversity long into the future. Although all of our woodlands are young, they are already attracting a number of species including badgers and gall wasps and they will continue to increase in biodiversity over time.

As the old Chinese proverb states: “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago but the second best time is now.”

W: www.water.ie