Millennium Forest Survey 2019

Client: Woodlands of Ireland, Coillte and The Forest Service

Fixed-point photography at Coill an Fhaltaigh in Co. Kilkenny that demonstrates vegetation succession. The image shows clearfell in 2003 (top-left), with scrub habitat in 2009 (bottom-left) and young native woodland present in the same location in 2019 (right). Photos by Philip Perrin and Orla Daly.
Fixed-point photography at Coill an Fhaltaigh in Co. Kilkenny that demonstrates vegetation succession. The image shows clearfell in 2003 (top-left), with scrub habitat in 2009 (bottom-left) and young native woodland present in the same location in 2019 (right). Photos by Philip Perrin and Orla Daly.

This research project comprised the second resurvey of a network of long-term ecological monitoring transects established in 2003. The first resurvey was conducted by BEC Consultants in 2009. The transects were located at four of the People’s Millennium Forests sites in areas previously clearfelled of commercial conifer forestry and then allowed to regenerate naturally. The four monitoring sites comprise Cullentra Wood in Co. Sligo, Coill an Fhaltaigh in Co. Kilkenny, Ballygannon Wood in Co. Wicklow and Rosturra Wood in Co. Galway. The 2019 resurvey followed previous methodologies by recording vegetation data, regeneration data, carabid beetle data, soil data and fixed-point photography.

This long-term monitoring project is providing us with an understanding of how woodlands and their associated biota establish at sites previously afforested with non-native conifers. Long-term monitoring datasets like this are rare and highly valuable. This project is not only of considerable scientific value, but through its association with the high profile People’s Millennium Forests project it contributes to the wider public debate on semi-natural woodlands and provides an important educational resource.