Lough Guitane Native Woodland

Uisce Éireann has planted a native woodland at Lough Guitane in County Kerry. This woodland provides many benefits for the area including enhancing local biodiversity, protecting the water quality in Lough Guitane and sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Over 62,000 people are supplied with clean drinking water from the Kerry Central Regional Water Supply Scheme. This scheme takes its water supply from Lough Guitane which is located a few miles from Killarney Town. Uisce Éireann owns a significant area of land surrounding the lake, however, its management was identified as requiring improvements and a “nature-based solution” (NBS) was soughtas a solution. The NBS developed to improve and protect the water quality within the lake was to establish a native woodland around the lake edge. A forestry licence from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) was approved for phase 1 of this NBS project in December 2020 and planting of the trees occurred in December 2021.

The Woodlands for Water DAFM scheme was identified to address the existing water quality issues along with enhancing the biodiversity of the local area. This project has seen a new, unique native woodland being established in an area that was previously used for intensive agriculture. The type of woodland that has been established is called riparian woodland meaning that it will be located along a riparian zone, in this case along the edge of Lough Guitane. Riparian woodlands have become rare features in the Irish landscape as they were often removed to make way for agriculture in the past, leaving our watercourses susceptible to pollution from adjacent lands. Riparian woodlands are a fantastic example of NBS that utilise a natural feature, in this case native woodland, to reduce the pressures on drinking water sources, water treatment processes and the natural environment.

The native woodlands at Lough Guitane support and enhance the local biodiversity, protect the water quality in Lough Guitane, but also sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Greenbelt Forestry Limited were selected at the early stages of this project and they have carried out all work at the site, including fencing the site to exclude grazing animals such as deer, cattle, sheep and hares. Only native tree species have been selected including Alder, Birch, Oak, Holly, Scots Pine, Willow and Rowan. Over 18,500 trees have been planted in phase 1, with additional trees to be planted in phase 2.