Green Sod Ireland is an Irish environmental charity and land trust (based in Galway) dedicated to the protection of Irish land for its wildlife, biodiversity, and ecosystems.
GSI’s ‘Wildacres’ initiative started with 10 acres of gifted land in Carlow and now has grown to more than 200 acres of land gifted to the trust throughout Ireland. GSI manage habitats in counties Cork, Cavan, Donegal, Carlow, Galway and Mayo and they always welcome any volunteers in those counties.
These habitats include grassland, peatland, woodland, shoreline, streams, and hedgerows.
Sometimes the management of these habitats is minimal, allowing natural regeneration to occur — and other times, habitats require a little help to start moving in the right direction. Examples of this include fencing, raising the water table on drained peatlands or the removal of invasive species. Deciding on conservation measures requires the gathering of as much data as possible to make the best decisions for nature. That’s where volunteers and the local community play an important role.
By monitoring these pieces of land, GSI can gather data on soils, vegetation, butterflies, moths, mammals, birds and invertebrates.
Janet Laffey is programme manager at GSI. Her role revolves around the management of the land that GSI hold in trust. The degree of biodiversity in each of the habitats varies, depending on the previous use of the land and the landscape to which that habitat is connected. In Ireland, much of the land has been altered over time and GSI aims to protect these habitats, allowing nature to return and flourish.
Communicating this is also an important part of GSI work and they do that by hosting talks, school workshops and citizen science events.
Janet said: “Our aim in doing so is to demonstrate that we are having a positive impact on biodiversity over time and encouraging our volunteers to allow nature back to their own gardens and farms. This is a great way for individuals and community groups to learn more about nature and also to pass that knowledge on to others. The more people we get involved, the more people get excited about nature and the more we can do to halt biodiversity loss and climate change.”
Maria Heneghan is the director on the board of GSI and remembers back to when the GSI land trust was set up in 2007 at a time when climate change and the preservation of biodiversity were just comments ‘in-passing’. Mature trees in cities were being replaced with concrete walkways, and carparks and ornamental landscapes were devoid of pollinator-friendly planting.
She notes that the human-centred approach, with little regard for the land and species that support human existence, was prevalent: “We share the earth with other species whose existence is essential to our survival through nourishment of the soil, the growth of plants and trees, and the provision of fresh air, without these essentials, our human existence would be seriously challenged.
With this background, a group of visionary people came together and set up a land trust whose main aim was to create a consciousness of the need to consider the human-centred approach, create an awareness of the need to be kinder to the earth that sustains us and preserve the land and the species that live there.”
A visionary proactive group of two women in Galway and five from the East, came together initially to explore models of successful ‘Wildacres’ initiatives in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Britain. Learnings from other success stories showed that, being reactive to insensitive development was not going to gain any traction and that a proactive approach would yield success.
The group agreed that in order to achieve their aim the establishment of ‘Wildacres’ (land in protection) in every county in Ireland thereby creating safe havens where species can thrive and flourish through proper management and rewilding was the way forward. It was decided that each piece of land gifted to the trust would have its own uniqueness and therefore would be managed according to the recommendations of its ecological report. A unique feature of GSI land is that except for research and environmental management, it cannot be walked on by the public.
GSI is mindful that we share this Earth with a myriad of other species who, like us, have essential value, and whose life systems facilitate the nourishment of the soil, the growth of trees and plants, and the provision of air for us to breathe. In short, they are essential to our health — physical, mental, emotional and spiritual — so we must respect, care for and cherish their existence for human existence.
- The European Rewilding Organisation GSI is linked with like-minded initiatives such as the European Rewilding Network (ERN). GSI and Lord Dunsaneys Meath Estate are the only two ERN member groups in Ireland.
- GSI recognition and financial support from the Heritage Council; FBD Insurance; OPW; LEADER West Cork, Galway Rural Development; London School Economics; NUIG has allowed GSI to grow.
Janet Laffey Green Sod Ireland programme manager and Maria Heneghan, director on the Board of Green Sod Ireland
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