ABSTRACT
Extensive forest once covered most of Ireland but, today, the Republic of Ireland is one of the least forested countries in Europe. Less than 10.5% of the land area (approx. 697,600 hectares) is forest and 68% of this is occupied by commercial softwood species (Forest Service 2012). Excluding mixed and non-native broadleaf forest, only about 100,000 hectares of native woodland remaini. Of this, approximately 20,000 hectares is defined as ancient woodland, i.e. woodland dating from the period (prior to the 1600s) before commercial planting began (Perrin and Daly, 2010). These remnants are not only a natural asset, but a natural capital asset that provides significant cultural, regulating and provisioning ecosystem services (Quine et al. 2011). Supporting ecosystem services (such as a habitat for specialist and non-specialist species) also exist for each of these ecosystem services in one manner or another.(Quine et al. 2011)
This paper describes the particular ecosystem services provided by Ireland’s native woodland. The objective is to demonstrate that cultural and regulating services, in addition to provisioning services, have an economic value, and that native woodlands are not just of esoteric or conservation interest. These values are at risk from a variety of threats such as spatial fragmentation, invasive species, deer browsing, poor management and inconsistent state support (Perrin et al. 2008; NPWS 2008; Purser et al. 2009). The intention is to demonstrate both the value of the existing area of woodland and to assess the potential benefi ts of an expansion of native woodland up to an area equal to that of the total current forested area. Although the focus of the study has clearly been on Ireland, an examination of these ecosystem service values has relevance to many other countries whose native woodland resource is small and dominated by a relatively large commercial forest resource, or where native forest is vulnerable to neglect, loss and damage.
