Coillte has secured funding as part of the Government’s jobs stimulus package to rewet and replant 2,100ha of blanket bog along the Atlantic seaboard.

In total, the package provides for €15m in peatlands rehabilitation.

Having secured funding, the Wild Atlantic Bog Woodland Project will see ground that is currently planted with spruce and pine forests restored with rewetted bog and replanted with native woodland.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Pippa Hackett welcomed the funding for large-scale environmental projects.

Restoration

“I’m particularly delighted with the allocation for a large-scale habitat restoration project by Coillte on Atlantic blanket bog. This is a 2,100ha project, which will restore Coillte lands through rewetting the peat soils focused on rare habitats.”

Minister Hackett said the project will deliver significant biodiversity gains and climate benefits as well as providing a public amenity.

“The establishment by Coillte of its non-profit Coillte Nature division has facilitated the scope for these types of projects and I congratulate Coillte on its initiative and ambition for this project.”

Coillte Nature has previously undertaken three bog restoration projects but the latest project will be the biggest to date.

Coillte Nature

“For Coillte, it’s about the right tree in the right place for the right objective,” Imelda Hurley, Coillte chief executive, said.

“This project aims to sensitively remove the conifers on these sites and restore the landscape with rewetted bog and native woodlands. It is consistent with this Government’s high-level environment priorities, which aim to restore these rare habitats, and will involve a wide range of external peatland experts and local contractors.”

This project aims to sensitively remove the conifers on these sites and restore the landscape with rewetted bog and native woodlands.

Director of Coillte Nature Ciarán Fallon said the learnings from the project can be applied to a range of solutions for restoring peatlands in the west.

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