Experts recently gathered at the Marine Institute Observation Station in Furness, Co Mayo, to share the latest research and experiences from Wild Nephin, one of Ireland’s most ambitious restoration projects.

The event centred around PhD student Colin Guilfoyle’s five years of research into the Nephin forest, a 4,700ac area of former commercial conifer plantations situated within the broader 37,000ac peat-dominated Wild Nephin landscape. Remote and sparsely populated, Wild Nephin contains Ireland’s most isolated point (8km) from a public road.

The morning began with a series of presentations from academics, researchers, and practitioners representing Atlantic Technological University, Wild Atlantic Nature, Coillte, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, as well as State bodies, local groups, and NGOs.

Colin Guilfoyle opened by sharing his research on reference habitats, parts of the landscape closest to their natural state. By comparing these to altered areas such as conifer plantations, he presented early findings on how restoration may transform the landscape, with particular focus on changes in mammal and invertebrate communities.

Elvira de Eyto of the Marine Institute followed, offering insights from over 50 years of fish monitoring data. She highlighted concerning trends – salmon returning from the sea earlier, smaller and in lower numbers. She also spoke with some concern of steadily rising water temperatures, about 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade, all threatening species like Arctic char.

Conifers

Elvira also acknowledged the impact, but also the historical context behind the conifer plantations, which once provided a crucial economic lifeline to struggling communities affected by emigration.

ATU wetland ecologist Heather Lally introduced fascinating work using environmental DNA sampling from local lakes, which detected pike, red deer, frogs, birds, and pine martens. Strikingly, trout were absent, possibly due to a heatwave at the time of sampling, forcing the fish into the deepest, coolest parts of the lakes.

Guilfoyle presented his camera trap studies, which mapped mammal activity. Although species richness was relatively low, sheep remained the most frequently recorded animal, despite the land being publicly owned.

Red deer, introduced decades ago to the north of the wilderness area, have since spread across the park and down as far as Mulranny and Newport.

Birds, bogs and bureaucracy

Conor Graham presented data on bird populations, showing broadly consistent densities across habitats, though with higher numbers of red-listed species in restored or near-natural areas.

Sarah Sheridan and Doireann Nicholls outlined ongoing peatland restoration work. Liz Ryder from ACRES talked of the teething problems, but also steady progress the national agri-environmental scheme is making locally.

Dermot Tiernan of Coillte delivered a technically detailed talk on the many challenges of converting forests back into bog.

These include complex licensing, specialised machinery, significant costs, and the need for careful water monitoring to prevent sediment from harming aquatic life.

Tiernan suggested that future funding will likely need to come from nature restoration sources rather than carbon markets, as he told the gathering that even restored peatlands continue to emit some carbon, albeit far less than conifer plantations.

Into Wild Nephin

In the afternoon, after a bag of Tayto and a ham sandwich, the group boarded a bus and headed into the Wild Nephin landscape near Lough Feeagh. Here, the scale of restoration challenges became more visible.

We toured areas recently affected by fires, one burning near Ballycroy National Park’s timber boardwalk and another that destroyed 400ac of forest and peatland. Both incidents are suspected to be cases of arson.

Denis Strong of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) described the huge multi-agency response required to control the fires and the serious risks they posed, noting that seven people in different groups had been camping close to areas the fire reached on the night in question.

Despite these challenges, there were promising signs of progress. Large sections of rhododendron, 15ha-20ha blocks, have been cleared. Bog bothies now provide shelter for overnight hikers.

Experimental exclosures are being used to shield native trees from grazing animals. Sam Birch described encouraging results from ongoing rhododendron clearance and native tree regeneration efforts.

The Marine Institute also showed us a monitored river section, where every fish can be tracked as it moves upstream or downstream.

Wild Nephin. \ Ray O Foghlú

Elvira de Eyto shared a light-hearted story of trout tags from this section of river found under a nest in Newport (15km away) revealed a heron flying in each day to secure its lunch.

Ray Ó Foghlú is an environmental scientist and woodland conservationist. He is the farm programmes co-ordinator with the Hometree charity.

Looking forward

The day offered a revealing window into the scientific, practical, and policy complexities of restoring these peatland systems. Several clear lessons emerged.

Restoration is both costly and complicated. While necessary, the current system of licensing and permissions is not fit for purpose and places significant burdens on those trying to do the work. Long-term, secure funding is essential to move beyond pilot projects and into full-scale delivery.

On the bus home, I spoke with nature campaigner and ecologist Pádraic Fogarty. While impressed by much of the work, we agreed that the real challenge now is to shift from research and pilots to scaled-up restoration efforts.

Many of the plantations at Nephin Forest were originally funded under the so-called Western Package in the late seventies, an initiative aimed at addressing the west of Ireland’s economic, environmental, and demographic crises. While the approach to afforestation may have been flawed, the underlying ambition was sound.

Today, with growing expertise in state and non-state organisations there is now an opportunity to create a new kind of Western Package, one that restores nature while revitalising rural economies.

With political backing and secure funding, nature restoration could once again bring socio-economic vitality back to these remote hills.