The woman who went up a hill and came down with a forest

Clonakilty native Ailish Creedon took a stroll up a hill outside her town one day and ended up in tears when she saw the barren landscape at the top. Right then, she decided to do something radical about it, she told Eimear O’Dwyer

‘NO matter what happens, this project is going ahead, even if it takes me five years, 10 years, 20 years, I’m not backing down from this. Ideally, I would love to inspire other people my own age to get involved in things like this.’

These are the words of determined Crossbarry native Ailish Creedon – a 25-year-old woman who has embarked on a new project that aims to restore forestation in Cork. 

‘The location will be decided once we have reached around €30,000 through fundraising,’ Ailish explained. ‘It will be a public space where people can bring their family, walk their dogs, and spend quality time in nature. And, I believe it will be even more special to those who brought it to life.’ 

Ailish hopes the reforestation project will take place in Clonakilty. However, if that is not feasible, it will be situated in another location in the county. 

‘I live nearby to Clon and there are no woods around, there’s no woodland area, there’s nowhere really to go and walk the dog or bring the kids, so Clonakilty is where I’m aiming for, but at the time when I have the money to actually buy a site, it really will depend on what’s available.’ 

Ailish said she noticed vast expanses of empty fields as well as spruce plantations while driving around Ireland. This was upsetting she explained, because the spruce plant is a monoculture, meaning that it doesn’t bring any wildlife into the area and, therefore, does not enhance biodiversity. 

Ailish was frustrated that the spruce trees are often planted with the sole purpose of cutting them down again. ‘I guess it was just heart-breaking to see, and then one day it kind of came to a head.’ 

Ailish was compelled to take action one day, when she was on a walk up Carrigfada Hill, in Reenascreena.

‘When I got to the top it was just a barren landscape. there was loads of spruce trees that had been cut down and all I could see for miles was just empty fields and it was just so quiet up there. There were no birds, there was no bit of wildlife and it was quite depressing,’ she said. 

Ailish said she was in tears standing at the top of the hill, thinking about what life will be like for future generations. 

‘Well if this is what it’s like for us now, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like by the time I have children.’ 

‘And I felt quite powerless to it, because I stood up the top of this hill and it was so barren and I felt so small and I felt there’s nothing I can do about this. But coming back down the hill, I was kind of thinking there has to be something.’

And that was when the idea came to Ailish to start crowdfunding and getting people together to create change. ‘Because I know there’s other people that are just as enthusiastic about this as I am,’ she said. 

‘So I was thinking if I can get the community involved, if I can get Cork involved, if I can talk to people enough about this to get them to care, then we can come together, we can buy land and we can plant forests that will forever be protected.’

Ailish is now seeking donations, volunteers, and grants to help get the project underway and another climate activist from West Cork, Sinéad Dart-O’Flynn has since joined the project as vice-chair.

Ailish is hopeful that there may be a suitable grant coming from the afforestation scheme under the new Forestry Programme 2023-2027. 

Ailish has contacted the relevant bodies to see if her project is eligible for a ‘Neighbour Woods’ grant of up to €10,200. This grant supports the creation of forests in an urban setting, providing social, amenity and environmental benefits. 

The scheme was launched by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue on September 6th having received EU Commission approval.

The rural TDs recently labelled the licensing system as a resounding failure, citing that the government missed its planting target by 98% this year. 

‘EU Commission approval only materialised in the past month, effectively causing the 2023-2027 forestry programme’s first year to go to waste,’ said Deputy Mattie McGrath, leader of the Rural Independent Group.

Ailish is currently awaiting a response about the scheme. 

‘This project is especially close to my heart. I think of all the wildlife it will bring to the area which is vital to our ecosystem and in turn our health, the community connections that can be made here, the gatherings that can be held, and I think to the future and imagine bringing my own children there and being able to tell them “we did this for you”.’

More details of the project and the donation link can be found on Instagram @the_reforestation_project.