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Native Irish woodlands are in a precarious state and have been so for hundreds of years. At the beginning of the 20th century, only 0.5% of land was covered with woodland. This has increased to over 7%, but the vast majority of new woodland is of conifers grown as a cash crop. A significant proportion (but hard to guess at) of the broadleaf plantations have been made using imported seeds, and the proportion of native woodland is estimated to be around 1% of the total land area, with ancient woodland forming a very small fraction of that.

In prehistoric times, approximately 7000 years ago, the predominant woodland type was hazel-elm (hazel as the most common understorey tree, with elm as the most common canopy tree), with hazel-oak in Galway, Mayo, Cork and Kerry, and pine in Connemara. The decline of woodlands, partly due to human clearances (for creation of farmland rather than firewood and timber), is believed to have begun earlier than is generally acknowledged, but was also compounded by the elm decline, a decline believed to be due to a disease similar to Dutch Elm Disease.

More modern threats to woodland come from the 20th century craze for 'improving' woodland by grubbing up existing woods and replacing them with conifer plantations, introduction of foreign species such as the grey squirrel and exotic deer species (which have few or no remaining predators), and the recent building boom.

Why do native woodlands matter?

Simply put, due to biodiversity; the conifer plantations which make up most of Ireland's forests are capable of supporting far fewer species than native woodlands, which would have a much greater mix of tree species, and which would play host to far more species of insects, mammals, fungi and birds.  It is quite probable that a single 500 year old oak would support a greater variety of species than an entire forest of planted conifers.