Our work is to establish and conserve permanent native woodland in Ireland, encouraging land regeneration and biodiversity through afforestation, restoration and education.
Ireland was once a land of forests. At one time, up to 80% of the country was covered in native wildwood. Irish culture still contains echoes of this, in Ireland’s ‘tree alphabet’ – the ancient Ogham script – in the Gaelic names for common trees, folklore, and song.
Yet today, Ireland is the most deforested country in Europe. Just over 1% of that original forest cover remains. Hometree is changing this. Our vision is the restoration of Ireland’s ancient wildwood. Through conservation, afforestation and education, we aim to create a landscape in which people and forests flourish, together.
Hometree began in a small community garden project in winter 2015, where we saw how important it was for people to connect with nature. Five years on, hometree has planted over 30,000 pioneer trees like scots pine, willow and alder, while hundreds of people have contributed time and resources to the vision of incorporating more trees into the Irish landscape, bringing all the benefits that woodlands create.
Our current fundraising comes from partnerships, people and businesses who share and wish to support Hometree’s goals and those who are curious to educate themselves and connect to their sense of stewardship for the natural world. We’ve worked with over 50 businesses, from small startups to multinational organisations like Medtronic, the global leader in medical technology.
What began as a tree-planting charity is growing into a project which endeavours to deeply connect people with nature, and facilitates a wide variety of projects that are fundamental to addressing both Ireland’s declining biodiversity and the unfolding climate challenge.
